Kingdom Hearts Trinity Sight
by Talanane
Summary: Three years after the events of Kingdom Hearts,Chain of Memories, Sora awakens in the treasure room of a strange castle, without any memory of ever having been the Keyblade Master. Donald and Goofy have also lost their recent memories.
1. Rude awakening by the Gate

* * *

Sclartaran Productions Presents 

A Talanane Creation

Kingdom Hearts Trinity Sight

Episode I: A rude awakening, beside the gate.

Standard Disclaimer

The following is a work of Fan-fiction. This means that it contains characters, locations, and other things drawn from various sources such as books, movies, television shows, anime and video games, none of which I own the rights to. In this episode they are Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts, Chain of Memories, by Square-Enix Inc, the Wizard of Oz, originally created by L. Frank Baum, Sailor Moon, created by Naoko Takeuchi, and Stargate SG-1, owned by MGM television productions.

* * *

­­­­­

Opening theme song

Three young men from different worlds scattered throughout space and time.

Three young men, all torn away from their homes.

Trinity Sight! Trinity Sight! What does each one see?

Seeking the Light, Seeking the Light, to shine on what could be!

Each young man must do his part, against the forces of Forgetfulness.

Together they must find the keys to their past,

The past which is part of them all!

* * *

Somewhere within an old castle, a pale shaft of light forced its way through some of the small barred windows high up on the wall of what was once the fortress's treasury, illuminating a scene of neglect and decay, as evidenced by the accumulation of dust that covered everything in the room. Most of the abandoned items were in themselves unremarkable, as they were the sort of thing you would expect to find in such a place, namely chests of gold, jewels, some important documents, that sort of thing. However, there were also a few items, such a crystal balls, broomsticks, scrolls, wands, and other things that announced that this vault did not belong to just any wealthy and important lord, but in fact that the owner was or had been a powerful sorcerer or sorceress.

Furthermore, at one end of the chamber, set into a slightly raised dais of its own was an even stranger artifact. This took the form of a large ring that measured about twelve feet across, with a central opening of about nine feet.

Lying in front of the artifact there were the figures of three beings. Strangely enough, for being the sole occupants of such a long abandoned castle, they were not dead, just unconscious. This was evidenced by the fact that soon one of them, a Human boy of about seventeen or eighteen years of age, began to stir. A moment later he awakened fully, coughing from the dust on the floor.

Besides having trouble breathing due to the dust, the young man had a splitting headache of the type usually associated with a hangover. Groaning, he tried to put his hands to his temples to try and massage away the pain, but found that he had trouble doing so, as if whatever had given him the headache had also sapped the strength from his limbs. So the boy just lay there for a few moments enduring the torturous throbbing, gathering strength to try once more. As he did so, fragments of memory danced through his mind, trying to form together into a recollection of what might have happened to leave him in this state. Finally, as the headache began to recede, a crude narrative began to coalesce involving a silver-haired boy, a girl with short red hair, and a log raft on what his mind insisted was an 'island'. Eventually, names came to be associated with the faces. The boy was 'Riku' and the girl 'Kairi'. He also remembered that he himself was called 'Sora'. By the time he recalled these things the headache was mostly gone and the boy now had the strength to sit up and take in his surroundings. He carefully turned his head from one side to the other, looking at the various treasures and to see if Riku and Kairi were anywhere around.

He didn't find them but he did spot the two other beings that were laying there beside him. They were very strange to his eyes, for they were clearly not human beings, although humanoid. The first was a tall gangly figure dressed in a green vest and voluminous tan pants, with a curious shield strapped to his arm. What was more unusual was that his face and ears were, literally, like those of a dog. The second being, wearing a blue jacket with an oversized zipper and having a wizard's staff lying by his wing hand, could not be mistaken for anything other than a duck However for all their strangeness, Sora found that these two were also strangely familiar to him, as he had known them from somewhere. Yet unlike his friends from his home on the Destiny Islands, their names did not immediately come to him.

Still, Sora was a compassionate and caring young man and with what strength he had recovered, he moved over to check on their condition. Shaking first the dog-man, then the duck gently with his hand, he found them still profoundly unconscious, although clearly they were alive. He tried to think about what he could do for them in this state, although he was not a doctor or a veterinarian and therefore did not have that much knowledge on medical matters. The only thing he could think of was to have food and water ready for when and if they did wake up.

When the young man thought about these things, he became aware that he was hungry and thirsty himself. Indeed upon a moment's reflection, that might be one reason why he was feeling as weak as he was. So, marshaling what strength he had, Sora began to rise unsteadily to his feet, and with a few moments struggle, just managed to stand up. As he did do, he had yet another surprise. Somehow, it seemed that the distance from his eyes to the floor was greater than it used to be. Furthermore, when Sora got a good look at his hands, they seemed positively huge, or at least bigger than he thought they should be.

"_What the"_ he thought to himself. Somehow he had grown bigger than he had been before. He would have questioned how that had happened, but the growling of his stomach brought him back to more immediate concerns. Therefore he tottered along, checking among the dusty treasure chests and bags for something, anything edible or potable. However, all that he found were the old witch's treasures, useless in the current situation. Sora rested for a few moments, then proceeded toward the treasury's exit, which fortunately could still be opened with only a moderate effort.

Moments after he had left, one of the two remaining beings by the gate, the duck-man, began to stir, giving a little quack-like moan. Then, yawning, he inhaled some of the dust, which choked him.

* * *

"Qu-hack-hack" the duck-man went, coughing. Clearing his lungs, he looked around slowly. Then spotting his companion laying there beside him, he like Sora before him, he shook the dog-man weakly. With all the effort he could spare he said "Goofy, Goofy, hey Goofy, wake up!" coughing again afterward.

This time it worked, and the dog-man, Goofy, awakened. He muttered. "Huh, Donald, what's up?"

"You are, thank goodness" Donald answered sarcastically.

"Well, no" Goofy answered back in a matter of fact manner. "It seems like I'm lying down"

"I see that!" Donald shouted, or spoke as loud as he could anyway. Then, remembering what they were supposed to be doing, or at least what he thought they were supposed to be doing, he said. "Get up Goofy! We have to go find the King!"

"The King?" the dog-man asked. "What about him?"

"He's missing, that's what!" Donald said. "Don't you remember?"

Goofy scratched his head for a moment, weakly, then recalled "Oh yeah, he left that letter, telling us to look for some kind of key, didn't he?"

"Yeah, that's right" Donald confirmed, nodding. However, as he did so, the action brought his eyes to bear on his surroundings. Taking another quick look, the duck realized that this was no place he had ever been before. He asked his friend the obvious question. "Uh, Goofy, where are we?"

"Uh, gosh" the dog-man replied, taking his own look around. "But it sure isn't Disney Castle, I don't think. Queen Minnie would never let things get this dusty"

"Uh, yeah, but where are we?" Donald asked again.

"I don't know" Goofy told him. "But I do know that I'm getting kind of hungry all of a sudden. I wonder if they have anything good to eat here in the castle" This last statement was emphasized a moment later by the low growling sound that issued from both of their stomachs.

"Yeah, it seems like years since we last ate" the duck-man confirmed. He was just about to suggest that they go up to the castle kitchen when he turned and almost tripped over a small bag that was right by his webbed feet. Unlike the other bags in the room, this one had almost no dust on it. Picking it up, Donald found it contained three packages wrapped in brown paper and three bottles. Taking one of the parcels out the duck sat back down and fumbled with the wrapping. Goofy, seeing what Donald was doing, picked up one of the bottles and began to struggle with the cap. Fortunately for both of them the contents of the packages and bottles were not the kind that would tumble or spew out, so neither of them literally lost their lunches when they finally got them open. For that was what was in those containers. Donald found a loaf in his parcel and Goofy found out he had a bottle of water. Donald tore off a small piece of his loaf and tested it. Finding it good, he began to eat, after handing Goofy another of the brown paper parcels. Goofy in turn passed Donald one of the other bottles. The two friends ate and drank ravenously and were soon moderately satisfied. While they were consuming the last bites and drops of their meal, Donald commented, "It sure was lucky that this food bag was here"

"It sure was" Goofy answered him. "We were starving" Then Donald had a thought, "I wonder who left it there?"

"Gosh Donald, I don't know" Goofy answered him. "Maybe we had it with us all along and just forgot" he added as he finished off the last crumbs. Then, as the soporific effects of the meal began to take hold, Goofy yawned and said. "Well, I think I'm going to take me a little nap" and promptly slumped down in exhaustion.

"This is no time to sleep Goofy, we have to" Donald started to say, but without his usual fire, for the effects of the meal had taken hold on him too, and he too lay down and went to sleep a moment later.

* * *

Meanwhile Sora, who had not seen the bag of supplies that had been nestled between Donald and Goofy, continued to search though the castle rooms in quest of sustenance. This turned out to be in vain, since the fortress had been abandoned for decades and any food that the kitchen or storerooms once had contained had long since decayed. The search was also hampered by the fact that in his condition, Sora had to take frequent rest breaks to conserve his strength. It was on one of these rest stops that the young man spotted a break in the castle wall, through which the waning rays of that world's sun poured, showing a way to the outside. Staggering once again to his feet, Sora tottered over to investigate.

What the Keyblade Master saw through the opening was not paradise by any means, since it was obvious that the area outside the walls was overgrown with weeds and crowded with saplings that had sprung up over the years since the castle had been abandoned. Still it was evident that this had once been an orchard and that meant the possibility of fruit on some of the trees. So as carefully as his condition would allow, Sora climbed through the gap in the wall and made his way through the old garden. At times he stumbled and twice he fell on his hands and knees, as the combination of hunger and the unfamiliarity of his suddenly too long arms and legs worked to make him a bit clumsy. Still the young man eventually made it to one of the older trees, which looked like it still had a few pieces of fruit on it.

The challenge now would be to get to that fruit, since by the look of things, this particular tree had been long neglected, being severely overgrown with its limbs tangled and intertwined with each other. Sora did not have the strength to physically shake the fruit out of the tree, so he had no choice but to try and climb it. It would be difficult, especially in his condition, but he had climbed trees when he was younger, so he did have some experience at it.

* * *

Elsewhere in the Multiverse, within the Castle known as Oblivion, a young woman with short blonde hair was hiding from the minions of an organization known simply as that, the Organization. Fortunately she had managed to slip the Keyblade Master and his friends through the ancient portal she had found in a long forgotten chamber that predated the rest of the castle, using the nine symbols engraved on the keepsake her mother had left her long ago, before this same Organization had captured her the first time.

"Oh Sora, I'm so sorry" Namine apologized to the air, hoping that somehow the Keyblade Master would hear it, wherever the Stargate had sent him and his friends. Still she was very worried, for she had been unable to complete the process of restoring their memories, only having reconstructed up to the point shortly before their adventures together had begun. This meant that when they woke up, Sora would not know Donald and Goofy, or they him. Worse, they would not have access to most of their powers or abilities until they quite literally had a chance and attained the experience to relearn them.

Still, that was better than to have allowed the Organization to capture them. Now all she had to do was to keep the enemy from capturing her, or worse, finding the 'Gate Room' and following the Keyblade Master and his friends to wherever the portal had sent them. So, that's what Namine set out to do, lure the Organization's lackeys away from the Stargate, and keep herself out of their clutches as long as possible. Namine hoped that her power to affect people's minds would allow her to subtly misdirect their attention away from the critical areas, as well as her own hiding place.

* * *

Ending theme

I know I promised you my friend, my love, that one day I would return to you.

I know I promised you, the one dearest to me, that we would meet again someday.

But somewhere along the way memory grew dim, and my paths began to stray.

And now I search among the tangled weave of fate, for the red cord that binds us two.

I seek for a guiding star that will lead me to the way that I must go.

The one path that will bring me back home to you.

* * *

Next time on Kingdom Hearts Trinity Sight: Episode II: Esper Graduation

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Author's note: About the overall title of this series, Kingdom Hearts Trinity Sight. This is a reference to the format of the first few chapters or 'Episodes', each of which will follow the viewpoint of one of the three main heroes of the story, introducing the characters and getting things up to speed. This is similar to the way the early parts of the story were portrayed in the game Suikoden III. Also, the concept of the Trinity, the three who work together as one is a very important concept in the Kingdom Hearts milieu.

Respectfully yours, Talanane.


	2. Esper Graduation

Sclartaran Productions Presents

A Talanane Creation

Kingdom Hearts Trinity Sight

Episode II: Esper Graduation

Standard Disclaimer

* * *

The following is a work of fan-fiction. This means it contains characters, locations and other things drawn from various sources such as books, movies, television shows, anime and video games, none of which I own the rights to. In this episode they are Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts, Chain of Memories, by Square-Enix Inc, the Phantasy Star Series by SEGA Inc, and Sailor Moon, originally created by Naoko Takeuchi.

* * *

On the world of Dezolis, far away from the castle where Sora, Donald and Goofy were, and just as far away, if not more from Castle Oblivion, the Esper Mansion stood upon a frozen plateau, isolated from the rest of the world by high ice cliffs and a deep crevice in the plateau itself. Looking out of a dorm room window out over the plateau stood a young man of about seventeen or eighteen. He turned his head to examine a small snowdrift on the edge of his vision to the left and commented, "Just like you, I too seem to have been blown about by the winds of life". He paused then continued, "And now, I will soon be moving on again"

This was true, for this afternoon, along with all the other students who had shown sufficient competence with the Esper Arts and sufficient knowledge of Esper Law and history would formally be acknowledged as full members of the Esper community. Next, according to recent tradition, would be a journey out into the worlds of the Algo Star System to acquire 'real world' experience with the various peoples and environments that existed on the two planets. More importantly, the Journeymen were going out to show the inhabitants of Algo that Espers were not a force to be feared, but rather friends and neighbors willing to help out in their shared effort to preserve peace and improve the lives of all.

Still, Ryo had mixed emotions about leaving the place that had been his home for the past three years. He thought of it as his home, for he had been here for longer than he had been anyplace else. This was the first place that he had been in long enough to really form any kind of real connection or feeling for. Of course this included the people here, especially his best friend Odin Ashley.

They had become friends shortly after Ryo had 'arrived' at Esper Mansion in a most unusual fashion, for Master Walsh had literally found him unconscious and freezing to death in the snow. The Lutz had brought him in and put him in the Mansion's Infirmary for treatment. After he had recovered somewhat, Master Walsh asked him if he would like to stay, for the Espers treating him had detected significant latent ability within him. The young man had agreed, since in reality he had no way to return to where he had been before. Days later, Ryo was enrolled in the Esper Academy and had been assigned a room with three other boys, including Odin

* * *

Flashback

"Excuse me," said the young blonde haired boy pulling on the brown haired boy's tunic. "You're that guy they're all talking about aren't you?"

"Huh, oh pardon me? What did you say?" the brown haired boy with large eyebrows said, having been lost within his own thoughts.

"You're the one the old man found all frozen up somewhere, right?" the blonde boy asked.

"I don't think Sensei would approve of you calling him the old man, and yes he did say he found me out in the snow. I don't really know, since I was out cold at the time, the brown haired boy said.

"Um, why were you out there anyway?" the blonde boy asked.

"Like I said, I don't really know. All I remember is that I was riding on a train, on my way to a new school. I think I was excited about going to this one, I don't remember why. After that, things start to get really fuzzy. All I really remember clearly was this great squeezing pain in my chest, as if my heart was being torn out, and then this great flash of light. After that I woke up in bed here."

There was a long pause as the blonde boy stood there trying to mentally digest what the other had told him. After a few more moments, the brown haired boy with big eyebrows spoke again saying "Oh yes, I haven't introduced myself have I? My name is Urawa, Ryo Urawa."

"Oh!" the blonde boy said. "I'm Ashley, Odin Ashley"

"I am pleased to meet you Mr. Ashley" Ryo said, bowing slightly and offering a handshake, which Odin accepted.

One other boy, who had been listening in on their conversation said "Well Urawa, it sounds a little like someone used some kind of Magic or Technique on you that put you out and zapped you here."

Another young man broke in before Ryo could answer him, "That makes sense. That's the only thing that could do something like that. Do you have some kind of enemies or something Urawa?"

"Well excuse me!" Ryo retorted back at the two. "It is quite rude to listen in on other people's conversations!"

End Flashback

* * *

From that somewhat awkward beginning grew one of the deepest friendships that Ryo had known since… He could not remember if he ever had as good a friend as Odin, but Ryo still felt an empty space in his heart, as if there was something, or someone missing.

He knew this because there had been three times over the past few years when that empty space flared into an intense sharp pain, the same as he remembered feeling once before he had even arrived on Dezolis

Ryo shook himself from his reverie. This was no time to be thinking about the past. In fact, he had little time left to get ready if he was going to make the ceremony on time. This was confirmed by the knocking on the door a moment later and his friend's voice calling out, "Hey Ryo, are you still there!"

"Uh, oh Odin" Ryo replied. "I was just thinking about a few things."

"You, you're always 'thinking about a few things' Come on, you're going to be late!"

The 'graduation' ceremony was being held in the courtyard in front of the 'tomb', as it was called. In reality it was the repository where some of the greatest artifacts in the Algo system were kept. Besides the five Esper students who were to be confirmed as journeymen, just about every Esper in residence had turned out to witness this rite of passage and the giving out of the journeymen's new 'assignments'. Ryo and Odin arrived just in time, just before the Lutz, Rune Walsh and his assistant and companion Kyra Tierney appeared out of the Inner Sanctum of the 'tomb'.

The leader of the Espers strode out of the door side by side with his lover, (it was no secret, even with all the precautions, including mental shielding that they took) then separating from her, walked up to the podium that had been set up for the occasion. After a slight adjustment of his formal robes, he gave a visual and telepathic cue for silence, and after a few moments, began to speak.

"Espers of the Algo star system and beyond", he began with a gesture and a nod toward Ryo. "We are gathered here today to honor the skills and dedication of those students, who over the past year have shown to us that they are now ready to take on new challenges beyond the walls of this ancient mansion. These outstanding young people have not only excelled in their studies, they have shown us through their actions that they possess the true spirit of courage and compassion first demonstrated by our founder, the original Lutz, Noah. Now, these same young people have volunteered to serve Algo through our new journeyman program. May I present to you."

Rune called forth the names of the five 'graduates' which included Ryo, but not Odin. He and Kyra then presented each of the new journeymen with the symbol of their office and a sealed packet bearing his or her name.

"Finally, I have one more thing to add" Rune continued. "There is one young man among those being honored here today, who had opened my own eyes, and taught me something. This young man, who claims to have come to us from the legendary ill fated planet Earth, has shown more kindness, compassion, dedication and intelligence than many Algo born Espers. He has proven to me that not all who came from that world were evil. On behalf of all Espers, and the people of the Algo system, to the citizens of planet Earth, via their representative Ryo Urawa, I apologize."

The crowd began murmuring, then some of the people gathered there, especially those who like Odin, were Ryo's friends, began cheering. Then the mob effect took over and everybody joined in, some shouting "Urawa, Urawa, Urawa!"

Ryo turned toward the crowd and bowed, showing a clear look of embarrassment. Then he motioned and telepathed for silence, and when the crowd calmed down, began speaking.

"My friends, classmates, Sensei Walsh and Sensei Keirney, thank you!" Over the past three years, while studying among you, I have learned some of the history of the Algo system. From the scant information recorded from and about the colony ship Noah, it is easy for me to see how my people could have been blamed for much of the tragedy that has occurred over the years. In my own world's records, Noah, or Noah's Ark as was called, has long been considered a myth. The truth behind it, if any, has long been lost in the past. Therefore, on behalf of the people of Earth, I accept Sensei Rune's apology, and in return, I forgive those who blamed us for the tragedies of Algo's past."

The crowd once again burst into cheers, a number of Ryo's personal friends including Odin and his little brother, came up to give him congratulatory handshakes and slaps on the back. He took it all in good grace. A few moments later, the Lutz again called for silence, then dismissed the gathering.

On the way back to the dorm rooms, Odin caught up with Ryo and said "Hey, nice speech man." Ryo replied "It just seemed like what needed to be said, to me."

"That's you all right, just too modest." Odin said. "You must have known ahead of time what was going down, just like you often do."

Ryo said, "I didn't need precognition to know that this would be an important occasion Odin."

Odin's little brother, who had followed them from the courtyard instead of going to his own quarters spoke up saying "Big brother told me that you're going to be Lutz someday, when Master Rune goes away."

Ryo stopped and turned to glance at Odin accusingly.

Odin blushed in embarrassment over his little brother's repetition of his words and said "Uh well, you are much better at all this Esper stuff than I am. Heck, you even understand all the Science stuff, which I just don't get."

"You just don't study or practice enough" Ryo told him. "You can get it."

"No he can't!" Odin's little brother said teasingly. "He's a biscuit brain!"

"A biscuit brain," Odin said back at his little brother with more than a little irritation. "Next you're going to say I have dumplings in my head!"

Ryo began chuckling at their exchange of verbal barbs, as the subject matter struck a hidden chord of suppressed memory. "I'm sorry, Odin" he said between bouts of laughter. "It's just, just that, I heard, someone called a dumpling head once, and, and the both of you just brought it to mind."

The two other boys, who had been infected with Ryo's laughter, asked "Who?"

Ryo, turning serious again, replied "That's the funny thing, I don't remember"

The both of them turned and stared at him. He replied, "Well, my family traveled a lot before I was brought here. You can't expect me to remember everyone I've met."

"Yes, you told me about your father's job" Odin replied.

Ryo nodded, then turned toward the younger brother, Rolf, and said "Now Rolf, you should tell your brother you're sorry."

Rolf pouted for a few moments, then seeing the stern look on Ryo's face said "I'm sorry Odin, I didn't mean it"

"It's all right little brother." Odin replied "I know you didn't"

"And Odin" Ryo added "It doesn't truly matter if you equal me in Esper ability or not. You are my friend, and that's what counts"

"Thank you Ryo" Odin replied.

"You're quite welcome" Ryo told him.

Odin said "Uh, Ryo, there is just one more thing"

"What is it?" the brown haired boy asked.

"If you're going to be assigned to Motavia, please don't tell Mom and Dad that I didn't make journeyman, okay?" Odin pled.

Ryo sighed "Now Odin, I told you not to worry about it didn't I. I'm sure that Rune Sensei has something in mind for you, when you're ready. Besides, if your parents really love you, you'll be forgiven."

Odin thought about this for a moment, before Rolf again interrupted with another "biscuit brain!"

"Rolf!" both other boys shouted simultaneously, just before he ran off down the hall.

"Rolf, come back here!" Odin shouted as he went off after his brother, leaving Ryo alone in the hall.

The Esper journeyman continued down the hall back to his room, where he sat down on and old chair with heavily patched upholstery and contemplated the packet he had been given. It was a plain brown envelope labeled with the words 'Ryo Urawa" and underneath that 'Journeyman Project assignment details, confidential.'

Since there was nobody else in the room at the time, Ryo opened the flap on the envelope and removed the document for perusal.

* * *

To Mr. Ryo Urawa.

Dear Mr. Urawa. I, Rune Walsh, Lutz of the Esper Mansion of Dezolis, once again give my thanks to you for your service to the Mansion and the people of Algo. I am proud to confer on you the rank of Journeyman Esper and all of the responsibilities and privileges of that rank. Please come to my office tomorrow morning where I will give you the details of your new assignment in person.

Cordially Yours, Rune Walsh

* * *

Ryo finished reading the note, then getting up, he got up and started to put it away with his other documents, then stopped, realizing that it would be pointless, since he would just have to take it out again and put it in his travel bag, along with the other necessities that he would need on any possible journey. Therefore instead he went to his footlocker and pulled out the aforementioned bag, along with those personal items he would need.

* * *

Next time on Kingdom Hearts Trinity Sight: The Lost Silvite City

* * *

Author's Note: Some of you may be asking why there was a sudden jump to a different set of characters and settings. Well, if you read the first episode, I did warn you that I was going to do a number of chapters in the 'Trinity Sight' format, similar to the early parts of Suikoden III. That is, telling the story from the viewpoint of each of several main characters in parallel, up until the moment that they meet up and join forces. Next, in case you want to know, Ryo is not an original character. He was an incidental character who appeared in all of two episodes during the first season of the Sailor Moon Anime, and apparently forgotten thereafter.

Respectfully Yours, Talanane.


	3. The Lost Silvite City

Sclartaran Productions Presents

A Talanane Creation

Kingdom Hearts Trinity Sight

Episode III: The lost Silvite City

Standard Disclaimer

The following is a work of fan-fiction. This means that it contains characters, locations and other things drawn from various sources such as books, movies, television shows, anime and video games, none of which I own the rights to. In this episode they are Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts, Chain of Memories, by Square-Enix Inc, Skies of Arcadia Legends, by SEGA/Overworks, as well as Stargate SG-1.

Deep within the ruins of the old Silvite city of Soltis, a gate very much like those in the old Witch's Castle and Castle Oblivion sat, long forgotten. Now for the first time since long before the City was built, that gate began stirring to life. One by one the lights along the outside came on, while the inner circle turned, pausing occasionally while a slider surrounding the light on top came down briefly, bracketing one of the strange symbols on that inner wheel. When this had happened nine times, the inner circle stopped, and a surge of what appeared to be water erupted from the hole in the center, accompanied by a 'Kawhoosh' sound. Then the 'water' settled down into a rippling pool, apparently suspended within the gate. A moment later two figures stepped out of the pool, after which the lights on the gate's outer edge went out and the 'water' broke up and disappeared.

Immediately afterward, it became apparent that the two beings were somewhat uncomfortable in the new environment. They gasped, having to put more effort into breathing, as if the very air had suddenly become thicker than normal.

One of the beings, a large humanoid mouse who was about three feet tall, held his oversized, even for a mouse, black ears and said. "Uh, Riku, what is, this place?"

Riku, the silver haired boy beside him replied, with effort "I, don't know, the old man, who gave me, those symbols, didn't say."

Neither of them could say anything else for a few minutes, as they both had to sit down and rest for awhile. Eventually as their bodies adjusted to the higher pressure, Riku and Mickey could get up again and move around more normally.

"Ah, that's better" Mickey said as he rose. "For a minute there I thought we were going to be crushed flat."

Riku said nothing, but looked around taking in everything. Mickey continued saying "Well anyway, maybe we should leave here?" waving a hand back at the gate.

"Where to?" the young man asked, "That was the 'gate address' the old man gave me, and it's pointless to go back."

Mickey thought for a moment then said, "Well, he could be wrong about this 'treasure', couldn't he? After all it's a myth of a rumor of a legend."

"Well, he didn't say it was here, only that we would find out something about it. You're right though nobody seems to have been here for awhile." Riku observed.

"So then?" the Mouse King asked.

"I'm not going back, yet" the silver haired boy told him. "I want to see what's here"

Mickey simply shrugged his shoulders. He had learned years ago that his friend was not the type to take advice easily. Still, the Mouse King had a feeling that something was not right, something to do with the air here, something in an old story that he had heard a long time ago. He couldn't remember exactly what, so he couldn't tell Riku what it was. It was enough to make him uneasy, and so he said. "Okay, let's make it quick.

With no further comment, the young man started off toward the doorway, which fortunately was open. Mickey had no choice but to follow if he wanted to keep track of his friend. Right outside of the gate room, the two came upon a large circular chamber, a shaft really, that was ringed with walkways, one of which they now stood on. Looking up and down, the duo could see more walkways above and below. There were also a number of large artifacts, machines maybe, in the center of the shaft on several levels. After taking in the view, Riku turned left, following along the walkway, which slanted slightly upwards. He came upon and opened a couple of doors like the one he and Mickey had come out of, however there was nothing of interest, since one was an empty room and the other contained only what appeared to be an empty treasure chest. On he went, Mickey following, until he reached the end of the platform, where there was a slightly raised platform, circular in shape, with three small blunt triangular projections spaced evenly around the rim.

Mickey, who had caught up to the boy commented "Well, it looks like a dead end doesn't it?" Riku said nothing, so the Mouse King continued, "It doesn't look like there's any stairs or elevator, does it?" Riku still did not answer, instead stepping onto the platform, which began to hum with power as he did so. A second later the young man was surrounded by a silver glow and then with a 'whoosh' sound, vanished. Mickey was shocked for a second then realized what had happened and stepped onto the platform to follow him.

When both of them had gone through, they found themselves on a different walkway. They could tell this because nearby was a doorway different from those they had checked before, due to it's being a large, lopsided hexagonal shape (narrower at the top than the bottom). Entering it, they found themselves in a long tunnel, the floor of which was cracked in places and with small pieces of it missing altogether. As they walked along it, they passed by small, flat, square metal boxes secured along the edges of the tunnel. Eventually, they reached the end of the tunnel and out of another hexagonal door, and entered a passageway which curved off to both they left and the right.

Riku had started exploring to the right of the doorway when he noticed movement. He alerted his companion tersely, just saying "Mickey, I see something!"

"A way out?" the mouse asked.

"No." the young man answered simply.

Floating in front of Riku were three strange creatures, all made of some silver-gray metallic substance, or maybe stone. Two of them had the appearance of some sort of elongated helmet, flattened in the front, with two rings floating in front of that, each a little off to either side. Floating in front of the rings were the creature's hands. The third creature was larger and shaped like two blunt cones connected at their small ends, set so that their large ends pointed up and down.

Mickey, upon seeing them commented, "Well, at least they aren't Heartless."

That may have been so, but it didn't matter, since the smaller 'helmet' creatures began maneuvering to surround the companions, and the large one fired a beam of silver light right at Mickey! Riku quickly moved to knock the mouse down, saving him from being hit. Quickly getting up, the young man summoned his weapon, the Soul Eater blade.

Mickey, who had gotten the wind knocked out of him by Riku's 'save', nevertheless gathered himself up as quickly as possible, gasping "Uh, thanks pal!"

Riku didn't answer, instead moving toward the 'helmet' creature on his left, ducking its claw and slashing at it. This was not very effective, since the monster was indeed constructed as solidly as it appeared. Meanwhile, Mickey had risen, summoning his own Keyblade, and fended off the other helmet creature that had come after him.

The double cone creature fired again, just nicking one of Mickey's overly large ears while the smaller creature in front of the mouse struck out with its floating hands, striking him in the left shoulder, staggering him. Riku meanwhile lashed out at his own opponent with a short jab at what he hoped was a hole or joint in the creature's armor. The bat wing shaped blade did connect, chipping out a small chunk of whatever the monster was made of. Not enough to really hurt it, but enough to prove that with persistence they could damage the creatures.

Mickey by now had rolled out from the 'helmet' creature's attack and risen again, although his ear stung and his shoulder was numb. Being hard pressed by the two monsters, the Mouse King tried to sidestep, circling behind the smaller of the two in hopes of finding a weakness there. Both it and its larger companion were very quick however, and both monsters simply pivoted to keep Mickey in their sights. They attacked again, narrowly missing. Becoming more desperate, the mouse swung his Keyblade, attempting to hit the helmet creature's hand in hopes of disabling it. It missed, passing beside the hand, but the tip of the blade did graze the floating ring that served at its 'wrist', causing little damage but sending up a few sparks.

Riku was still 'chipping' away at his opponent, trying to wear it down while avoiding its counterattacks. One last swing and then finally, CRACK! A fist sized piece of the helmet creature's armor had broken away, exposing whatever was inside of it. Taking advantage of the new situation, the young man concentrated his attacks on the weakened area, trying to get into position for a lunge.

Mickey was not so fortunate, as he was slowly being forced to the edge of the walkway. Now, the larger double-cone creature fired yet again, this time hitting the Mouse King in the shoulder, making it painful for him to move his arm.

"OUCH!" Mickey exclaimed, as the bolt hit him, breaking his guard and giving the enemies an opening to move in. Meanwhile Riku found an opening, lunging forward and plunging the Soul Eater blade into the chink in his enemy's armor. Sparks, as of electricity erupted from the creature and as the young man pulled out his sword and backed away, the helmet creature began to smoke then a moment later fell to the ground, still.

Mickey the other two creatures still advancing upon him, fended them off as best he could, wielding his Keyblade in his good hand. Being slowly forced back toward the edge of the walkway, the Mouse King found his situation becoming more desperate. Calling out he shouted, "Hey Pal! I could use a little help here!"

Riku, having finished off his own opponent and was now looking in the direction of the other creatures anyway answered, "Yeah, I can see that!", as he moved to engage them. Moving toward the larger double-cone monster he told himself, _'We've fought larger and more powerful monsters than these, not to mention Ansem. The trouble with these is that they have much better armor. I'd better pull out the stops and end this quickly."_

Gathering up the Dark Energy he had accumulated during the battle, Riku brandished the Soul Eater in front of him and shouted out 'DARK MODE!' Instantly the robe he was wearing disappeared, to be replaced by dark gray balloon trousers and jacket, both with silver piping. Also, the young man was now surrounded by a dark aura. Sheathing his weapon momentarily, he held out his hands in the direction of the double cone monster and shouted 'DARK FIRAGA!' after which a great ball of deep purple fire formed in his hands and launched toward the creature. Striking the monster, Riku's fireball punched a hole in its armor and entered, burning enough of its interior workings to partly incapacitate it. Riku immediately drew the Soul Eater again, following up with a strike through the monster's wound, completely disabling it.

The noise and shockwave of its companion's destruction did not fail to get the attention of the remaining helmet creature, which turned to face the greater threat of Riku, leaving Mickey alone. Seeing the situation, something in whatever it used for a brain clicked, and a moment later it issued a mechanical sounding howl, which might have been either one of rage, fear, or a call for reinforcements. Although startled briefly, neither Riku nor Mickey took any time to find out, instead simultaneously resuming the attack on one hand and on the other, beginning a combo healing and shockwave technique. Riku once again cast Dark Firaga, while Mickey painfully took up a spread-limbed stance and two seconds later shouted "MICKEY MOUSE MIRACLE!" Between these actions the creature quickly went down, the secondary shock wave from MM Miracle tearing through the hole created by Riku's fireball, even as the technique healed Riku and Mickey's wounds.

As the creature expired, Mickey gave a sigh of relief, "Whew that was close!", he said.

"Yeah, they were tough." Riku agreed. "What are they made of?"

Mickey didn't offer any answer to that, so Riku continued saying "Well, at least you're okay, aren't you?"

The mouse tested his arm, moving the shoulder through a quick range of motion exercise, then said, "Well, it's still a little stiff, but I think its okay, thanks."

"Well, just watch out for more of them." the young man told him, as he sat down beside the mouse, facing the opposite direction to 'watch his back'.

Author's Note: I'm sorry that it took me so long to update. Believe it or not, Riku is pretty hard to write for. I'm also sorry that this installment is a little shorter than the previous ones.

Next Time on Kingdom Hearts Trinity Sight: Fallen from the Tree

Cordially Yours: Talanane.


	4. Fallen from the Tree

Sclartaran Productions Presents

A Talanane Creation

Kingdom Hearts Trinity Sight

Episode IV: Fallen from the Tree.

Standard Disclaimer

The following is a work of fan-fiction. This means that it contains characters, locations and other things drawn from various sources such as books, movies, television shows, anime and video games, none of which I own the rights to. In this episode they are Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts, Chain of Memories, by Square-Enix Inc, and the Wizard of Oz, originally created by L. Frank Baum.

Sora was climbing a tree, striving, reaching for the fruit that hung so tantalizingly close. This was not the easiest feat to accomplish in his current weakened condition, but he was also very hungry, and that hunger drove him to try. Finally, with one trembling hand he reached, stretched, and pulled at the tempting globe at the end of one twig.

What happened next was unexpected. Instead of the fruit merely coming off the branch, it seemed as if the tree itself emitted a cry of pain and even thrashed its branches as if to throw the boy out of itself. In any case Sora fell, hitting the ground under the tree and being knocked unconscious.

When he came to again, he was in for another surprise, for he saw a stranger's face looking down at him. Furthermore, it was not the face of a human being, even though it was humanoid in appearance. Instead it seemed that it was made of old, worn, pitted metal, with small spots of rust here and there. The nose was a hollow spike and the jaw was a separate piece, connected to the face by hinges on either side. Since Sora had just awakened, his startled reaction to something unexpected was quite natural.

"Huh, what!" the boy exclaimed, his body jerking a little in surprise.

"Oh, sorry", said a gentle, slightly metallic man's voice. "I didn't mean to scare you."

Sora looked at the 'being' again, this time noticing that in fact 'He' was made up entirely out of the same metal his face was made of, his body seeming to constructed of a series of cylinders sized and shaped a human torso and limbs and articulated into a humanoid shape.

Tin Man noticed the boy staring at him and asked, "What is something wrong?"

"No." Sora said, "I didn't expect a guy in armor to be standing over me like that.", as he struggled to get up.

"Huh?" the metal man replied. He looked puzzled, as much as someone with a rigid metal face could look as he caught the look of incomprehension on the boy's own face. Then, thinking about where the young man had been laying, he asked, "Well anyway, what were you doing sleeping under a tree around here anyway?"

The boy was confused for a moment, then with the growling of his stomach reminding him he answered, "I was hungry, so I was trying to get some fruit out of one of these trees and."

The metal man chuckled a little despite himself, then immediately apologized for doing so. "You were trying to get apples out of the old Witch's trees? You must be very hungry if you were climbing those trees!"

"Yes." Sora replied simply, "But I fell out, almost as if"

"It threw you out?" the metal man finished. "That's what the trees around here are like. They used to talk too, but the magic has weakened in the seventy or so years since the witch's demise"

"Magic, Witch?" Sora asked incredulously.

"Yes, didn't your folks ever tell you about it?" the 'Knight' replied.

The boy simply shook his head.

The metal man's face and manner betrayed his surprise. "I thought everybody in Oz knew about the old Witches and how we got rid of them."

"Oz?" the boy asked.

Again, the metal man was shocked for a moment then remembered how he had stumbled across the young man flat on the ground, and that he didn't even know where he was, or even the name of the country._ 'What did Scarecrow call it?' _he thought to himself, _'When you hit your head on something and can't remember, Am, am-something?'_ He thought for a moment longer _'But no, if he knew before, he would not have come here in the first place. Then why?"_ Then he remembered someone else who hadn't known about the witch's apple trees when he had first met her, and her ignorance had been understandable, since she had been from elsewhere. Could this young man be? But no, that wasn't possible now, was it?

"Excuse me," the metal man said, "are you from a country called Kansas by any chance?"

"Huh?" Sora replied. "No, Destiny Islands. I've never heard of a country called Kansas."

"Hmm" the metal man pondered. "There are no 'Destiny Islands' that I know of in Oz, so surely you must be from elsewhere. In that case, let me introduce myself. I am the Tin Man of Oz. You can call me Tin Man" He offered his hand for a greeting.

"I'm Sora" Sora replied, accepting it.

"Well Sora, welcome to our country"

Meanwhile, Donald was waking from his post-meal nap. After stretching and yawning, he got up and moved over to nudge his friend.

"Goofy, wake up!" the duck shouted as he kicked the dog-man in the shin.

"Ouch!" Goofy exclaimed as the slight pain woke him up. "Hey, what is it Donald?" he added.

"We're in trouble!" the duck man responded.

"Huh?" Goofy replied, still a little confused after waking up.

"Listen! We're stuck who knows where by who knows who! We have to get out of here!"

"Well, gosh!" Goofy replied. "Where do we start?"

Donald quacked, beginning to lose his temper. "Find the way out!" he shouted.

"Okay, okay, don't get your feathers all in a ruffle Donald!" Goofy replied. "Let's see, if were in the treasury of some castle, the way out should be up, or is that down? Well anyway let's find the stairs first then find the door." As he finished the sentence, he moved off toward the treasure room's gate.

For a moment Donald had not noticed that his friend had moved. When he did, he panicked a little shouting "Hey wait for me!" just as Goofy himself waved toward him and said "Come on Donald!"

A little while later Sora and Tin Man had moved out of the Witch's orchard a little ways and onto a small dirt trail. Unfortunately, Sora's strength had started to give out just as they reached it, his hunger overtaking him. So, even if Tin Man didn't like it, they had to stop for the evening, Sora resting while Tin Man made camp. When he had finished, he came over to check on his new friend.

"I'm sorry." Tin Man said. "You really are in a bad way aren't you? No wonder you were driven to pick apples from the witch's orchard!"

"So hungry", Sora replied, "food."

"Just hold out a little while longer. I'll go find you something, I hope." Tin Man told him.

Sora didn't reply, being too hungry.

It took Goofy a little longer to find the way out than he thought, since the old Witch's castle was configured a lot differently than Disney Castle was. In fact, he was totally confused, and it wasn't until nightfall, as evidenced by the fading of what little light there was, that he and Donald found themselves in the front hall.

"Finally" Donald said exasperated. "I swear Goofy you have the direction sense of a stone"

"Well, I haven't ever been here before" Goofy replied earnestly.

"True," the duck replied "but now we're going to have to spend the night here. And no, I don't think we should look for the bedroom!"

"Gosh, I hope there aren't any monsters in here" Goofy said. "It's scary enough just being dark."

"You worry too much!" Donald told him. Then reaching into the sack that they brought with them from the treasury, he brought out the remaining package and bottle and handed them one at a time to his friend.

"Here, you can have these." he told Goofy.

"What about you" the dog-man replied.

"I'm not hungry" Donald told him.

"Well, I'm not hungry either" Goofy replied.

"Okay, then don't eat it" Donald replied. "Just don't complain later!"

A little while later, Sora heard the sound of the metallic footsteps which marked the Tin Man's return. When he turned his head to look, he saw that the woodsman was carrying two objects, one in each hand. One was a metal bucket which gleamed red in the firelight, the other some sort of bottle.

"Well, it took a little while, but I managed to find a Lunch Pail Tree that had a couple of buckets still on it. I even spotted a Cola Bottle Tree on my way back. I just hope they're not overripe." With that, Tin Man walked around the campfire and offered them to the boy, who accepted them and said "Thank you".

"You're welcome." Tin Man replied.

Sora made a closer examination of the red bucket and found it to be just that, a metal bucket with a leather lid. Pulling back the top, he found that it contained a sandwich wrapped in what appeared to be wax paper, along with a piece of fruit. . He reached in and grabbed the sandwich, removed the waxed paper wrapper, and took a bite. It did indeed taste a little overripe, as if it had sat in an un-refrigerated container all day, but Sora was hungry enough not to care. He then turned his attention to the piece of fruit, which turned out to be okay. After finishing both of these items, he found that he had a dry 'stuck' sensation in his throat. This turned his attention to the bottle that the Tin Man had brought him. This seemed to be made out of green glass, slightly curved in at the middle, and filled with a dark liquid. He also saw that the top of the bottle was sealed with a strange cap that looked like a screw. He turned the 'screw' and a slight hiss could be heard. Continuing to twist the cap, the boy soon had it completely off. He then brought the container to his lips and took a sip. The liquid inside was a little bit fizzy, moderately sweet and somehow cut right through the dryness in his mouth and throat."

"Ah, that's good!" Sora said, after which he drank more out of the bottle.

"Dorothy always used to say that when she drank one." the Tin Man replied, a little sadly.

The boy paused for a moment, swallowed, then looked up at Tin Man and asked, "Uh, who is Dorothy?" then took another sip.

Tin Man shook his head, looking sad. "She was an old friend of mine, from a long time ago."

"Oh, what happened to her?" Sora asked, having recovered enough to notice Tin Man's expression.

"She passed on just a few months ago. Nothing bad, I don't think. She was just old. Anyway, I still miss her."

"I see." Sora said.

"It's not something to dwell on." Tin Man replied. "You just need to rest and get your strength back then when you're ready, I can take you to town."

Sora nodded as he slowly rose, stumbling off a little ways to use the bathroom, after which he returned to the fireside and did just what Tin Man had suggested.

Next time on Kingdom Hearts Trinity Sight: Meeting with the Lutz.

Author's Note: Yes, I know that this installment is a little uneven. This is partly due to the fact that I had drafted an earlier version of this tale before Chain of Memories came out, and originally Donald and Goofy were not even in this story. Now, to account for the changes in the Kingdom Hearts Canon, I have had to work them into this tale.

Cordially Yours, Talanane.


	5. Meeting with the Lutz

Sclartaran Productions Presents

A Talanane Creation

Kingdom Hearts Trinity Sight

Episode V: Meeting with the Lutz.

Standard Disclaimer

The following is a work of fan-fiction. This means it contains characters, locations and other things drawn from various sources such as books, movies, television shows, anime and video games, none of which I own the rights to. In this episode they are Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts, Chain of Memories, by Square-Enix Inc, the Phantasy Star Series by SEGA Inc, and Sailor Moon, originally created by Naoko Takeuchi.

_ Dream Sequence _

Ryo found himself in a large chamber resembling a cross between a Gothic cathedral with its stained glass windows and an industrial laboratory full of large scale scientific equipment. Milling about the chamber were a number of figures, most of whom were dressed as technicians with one more imposing figure, a green skinned woman in a lab coat, with most of her hair shaved except for one long red shock, and wearing a monocle apparently directing them. She paused what she was doing for a moment, almost as if she knew she was being watched, then dismissed the feeling with a shrug and went over to one of the seven large crystals set along the walls on either side of the chamber.

Ryo's viewpoint shifted along with the 'scientist', and he could now see that the crystal contained a figure of a young woman about his own age, with short black hair tinted blue, as if she was herself part Esper. Somehow, Ryo got the feeling that he had seen this prisoner before.

He awakened, the details of the dream fading away. He looked at the clock and saw that it was about forty-five minutes before the morning meal. He rose, dressed himself and checked to see that his bag was secure. Then, since he had a little time, Ryo took a quick trip to the library in order to return a couple of books he had borrowed.

Old Grahal the Librarian greeted him. "Good Morning Mr. Urawa.", he said. "What is it that this old man can do for you today?"

"Hello Mr. Grahal." Ryo replied. "I'm just returning a couple of things." He handed the books over to the old librarian.

"Oh right," the old man nodded. "You're one of the new 'Journeymen', aren't you?"

Ryo nodded.

"If an old man may ask, just where is old Rune sending a young pup like you anyway?"

"Actually Sir, I don't know yet. Master Walsh's message told me to meet him in person after breakfast." Ryo told him.

"Oh really?" the old man answered. "A private meeting you say? Knowing him, it must be a 'special' assignment." The librarian paused. "Then again, you are one of the best students through here in a generation."

"All the teachers say that, not just him." the young man said modestly.

"It's the truth." Grahal said. The old man shook his head then continued. "But I'm just wasting your time talking about it. You don't want to be late." The old man gestured at the clock on the wall, which indicated that it was now only ten minutes to breakfast time.

Some time later, after breakfast, Ryo arrived at the door to Rune Walsh's office. He was about to knock on the door, but before he could, it opened revealing the face of a young Esper man in his twenties. Recognizing the young man standing there, Rune's aide said "Oh, Mr. Urawa! I was just about to come get you"

"What, am I late?" Ryo asked.

"No sir. However, I was going to inform you that Master Rune wanted you to meet him at the Tomb as soon as possible. He didn't tell me why, but since you're one of the new 'journeymen', it must have something to do with your assignment"

Ryo didn't reply to that, since it was the obvious assumption. Instead he said "Thank you. I'll be going then"

When the young man arrived at the 'tomb', the telepathic 'voice' of the Lutz addressed him, bidding him to enter. Climbing up the short flight of steps leading to the door and crossing over the spot where Rune's podium had been that afternoon, Ryo opened the door and went inside. Standing there just beyond the entrance was a curious young girl with short white blonde hair, and wearing plate armor. Seeing him enter, she spoke in a pleasant voice, tinged with a hint of artificiality, saying "Mr. Urawa?"

"Yes" Ryo replied.

"Welcome sir" the girl said. "Master Walsh and Master Wren are expecting you in the inner chamber. Please come this way" She then pointed to a stairway toward the back of the chamber, after which she moved toward it. Following her down, Ryo soon found himself passing through a natural tunnel beneath the Desolisian tundra. Moving along it, the two of them arrived at another staircase leading down to yet another level. Following this to its end, they entered a larger chamber, at the center of which was a statue of a woman, holding a real, finely made sword. In front of the statue was a pedestal which had a small sphere floating above it, glowing with a pale light. On another pedestal, this one topped with a velvet cushion, was a small crystal scintillating with all the colors of the rainbow, blending into a soft, silver light. His eyes were drawn to it, finding it somehow familiar. Before he could think of where he had seen it before, two figures strode out in front of the pedestals, one being Master Walsh and the other a tall black haired man in black armor and wearing a partial metallic face mask.

"Ah, Ryo" the Lutz said. "Welcome to the Chamber of the Protectors"

"Welcome Master Urawa" the tall man said in an obviously mechanical voice. "I am Wren, the android in charge of systems control space station Zelan. I believe you have already met my assistant Demi" The 'woman' beside Ryo nodded.

"I am pleased to meet you Wren, Demi" Ryo answered, bowing. "I have heard of you"

The Lutz spoke again, saying "Now that you are here, we can 'get down to business' as some Earth people might say" Turning to address Ryo directly, he said "Originally, I was going to send you to Zelan, as Wren here had shown an interest in working with you. However, just two days ago, word came to me of some unusual occurrences on Motavia. Ordinarily I would send a senior Esper, or perhaps leave the investigation to the Hunter's Guild. However, this is a special case, especially since it was brought to my attention by an old friend of mine, Senior Hunter Chaz Ashley, himself a Protector of Algo"

As Rune paused, the Android Wren picked up the narrative "At the same time, we at Zelan lost all control over Algo's environmental systems. Upon preliminary investigation, it was found that all systems had been routed to an approximate location in Motavian orbit, even though there is no currently known facility at those coordinates. Furthermore, signals have been detected between that region and a location on Motavia's surface, in the same region as the incidents that had been reported to Master Rune"

Rune continued "Obviously there is a connection, so Wren suggested that we assist Senior Hunter Ashley in his investigation. Unfortunately I find that I cannot go, and since you were to be assigned to Wren anyway, I suggested that you could assist in this"

Ryo thought for a moment, then said "But Sir, I am hardly qualified or experienced enough"

Master Walsh cut him off, saying "You are the most talented and hard working Esper student in generations, and you did volunteer for the Journeyman project, to gain experience, did you not?"

"Yes Sir, I did" Ryo replied, abashed.

"You did indeed" the Lutz reiterated. "Besides there is another reason I am giving you this assignment. When I heard Wren's report, especially about the rerouting of the environmental system controls, something bothered me, something from the past. So I checked with the memories of the past Masters stored within the Telepathy Ball" Rune pointed at the pedestal in front of the statue. "According to them, before and during the Dark Force manifestation one thousand and twenty years ago, the Earthling spacecraft Noah occupied the same synchronous orbit where the control system signals have been rerouted. You know enough about Algo history to figure out the rest"

"Mother Brain" Ryo said. "You believe that somehow that facility has been reactivated? And that if some rogue Earth people, or their descendants are involved, I might want to help rectify the situation"

"It should not happen, since the Profound Darkness that backed both them and the Dark Force is no more, yet it is the simplest explanation" Rune said.

"Or it could be some new force" Wren added.

"In any case, I thought that if Earthlings are involved, you would be interested" the Lutz concluded.

Ryo mused over what the others had said, then answered "All right, I will do what I can, even if it turns out not to be enough"

"Accepted Master Urawa" Wren said.

Rune came over to the young man and placed a hand on his shoulder "You might do better than you believe possible young man. Like I said, you are my best student, and I believe in you. You just need to believe in yourself"

"I've heard that before." Ryo replied.

"In any case, Wren here will await your arrival at the landing facility on the Plateau." the Lutz said. "Report there when you are ready."

"Yes Sir!" Ryo replied.

As it turned out, even though the young man was already packed and only had to bid farewell to his friends that process took much longer than Ryo had planned on. Much of the delay of course was because many of said acquaintances were themselves young people, and of course they just had to insist on having a party. Ryo, even though he was not by nature a 'party person', attended anyway, mostly because he knew that they would be greatly disappointed if he didn't.

Afterwards, as Ryo was returning to his room to retrieve his baggage, his friend Odin appeared, running after him and carrying a small envelope.

"Hey, wait up!" the blonde boy shouted.

Ryo stopped and turned toward his friend. "Yes Odin?"

The younger boy caught up to him and stopped, his breathing affected a little bit by his exertion. "I almost forgot!" he said, holding out the letter. "You said back there you might be going to Motavia, right? Well if you get the chance, take this to my folks, okay?"

Ryo took the envelope from him and replied "Sure thing Odin, if I get the chance. The only thing I know for sure is that I'm going to Zelan, and then maybe to Motavia afterward."

"Oh!" Odin said.

"I'm sorry" the older boy replied. "I promise I'll give it to your folks if I can. If I can't, then I'll ask Wren to send it, if possible, all right?"

"Well, okay." Odin said. "It's just that."

"You miss them." Ryo said, completing Odin's statement. "I know how that feels. I miss my family too." He sighed. "As for friends, I didn't really have that many of them back on Earth. We moved from place to place too often. Still, I miss those I did have, especially." Ryo paused for a moment, trying to remember. "Who was it?" He shrugged his shoulders. "Well anyway, I still miss them, even though I know I may never see any of them again."

Odin said nothing, just nodding.

"Well Odin, take care of yourself." Ryo told his friend as he offered his friend a handshake, which the younger boy accepted. "And remember, try your best."

"Bye Ryo." Odin replied as his friend moved off back toward his quarters. "I will!"

Next Time on Kingdom Hearts Trinity Sight: Sky Submarine.

Author's Note: This episode was a mixture of old and new, combining sections from one of my earlier versions of this story with a couple of new segments, most notably the 'post party' talk with Odin.

Respectfully yours, Talanane.


	6. Sky Submarine

Sclartaran Productions Presents

A Talanane Creation

Kingdom Hearts Trinity Sight

Episode VI: Sky Submarine.

* * *

Standard Disclaimer

The following is a work of fan-fiction. This means it contains characters, locations and other things drawn from various sources such as books, movies, television shows, anime and video games, none of which I own the rights to. In this episode they are Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts, Chain of Memories, by Square-Enix Inc, and Skies of Arcadia Legends, by SEGA.

* * *

After resting a while, Riku and Mickey had recovered much of their strength and were now ready to move on. Even the pain of Mickey's injury had greatly subsided, leaving only a dull ache. The Mouse King had even fallen asleep, making it necessary for Riku to wake him up.

"Wake up Mickey!" Riku said, shaking him.

"Huh, what is it?" the Mouse mumbled.

"It's time to go." Riku told him, indicating a direction.

"Oh I'm so sorry about that." Mickey apologized, rising onto his feet. "It's just."

Riku interrupted him saying "You were hurt and needed the rest."

"It's better now, thanks." Mickey stated. Moving in the direction Riku had pointed out, the Mouse called after him, saying "Well, come on!"

Riku shrugged and followed Mickey out into a new series of corridors, which at one time had formed a series of concentric circles connected to each other by a number of passages arranged like spokes cutting through them. Now however, Riku and Mickey had to pick their way through them, as if through a maze, since over the years parts of the floor had fallen away leaving large gaps. Fortunately no new sections fell out when they walked over them, and when they encountered creatures, they were either already dead or were at least those types they had encountered before and now knew how to deal with, although they were still quite tough to dispose of. They stopped two more times to rest after battle, but eventually they reached the outer ring on the opposite side of the series of passages.

Suddenly, they were looking out into inky darkness where the hallway suddenly ended in jagged broken spikes, like a great chunk of the city had been scooped out and lifted away. The space was not completely empty, since the two companions could hear a low thrumming sound off in the distance. At first neither of them could pinpoint where it came from or what it was. Soon however the source of the sound came closer and they could see a beam of light moving back, being swept over whatever lay below.

"I wonder if it's searching for something?" the Mouse King asked.

"Looks like it." Riku answered. "If whatever's making that noise is like those machine creatures we killed, that could be US!" As he said this he motioned for Mickey to move out of the creature or machine's line of sight.

In a few minutes the searcher came closer and now the noise it generated could clearly be made out as that of some kind of aircraft propeller. Mickey, moving his head around to take a look could now dimly make out the shape of the craft that propeller was attached to. It was an elongated oval, with a cylinder attached lengthwise to the aft end, and another flattened cylinder attached near the forward end, pointing up. The light they had spotted before was coming from some source located in the rounded nose of the vehicle. There were a few other lights on the craft, mostly red and blue running lights, but there were a couple of others, one on the conning tower, and another above the searchlight in the bow that illuminated a number of markings on the ship's hull.

Most of these markings made no sense to the companions, being a seemingly random arrangement of letters and numbers. The largest two symbols, set apart from the others and seemingly painted on hastily over something else, were unmistakable to either of them, for the first was the white skull-and-crossbones on black symbolizing pirates, and the second was the black edged with red quartered heart of the Heartless.

"I had so hoped they hadn't started reappearing yet." Riku sighed.

"I had too." Mickey concurred. "Guess that was just wishful thinking."

"And with Sora not here, it's up to us to do something about it." Riku stated, again motioning for Mickey to get out of the flying sub's line of sight. A little late, for at that moment the searchlight beam swept over the jagged ruin outside, a part of the beam shining into the tunnel end, illuminating the Mouse.

Riku reached up and forcibly grabbed his companion, dragging him back into the passage. "Ouch!" the Mouse said at the pressure on his ear. "What did you have to do that for?"

"What if they saw us?" the young man told him. "Then a lot of Heartless and maybe Pirates would be after us, whether they were looking for us before or not!"

"Sorry!" Mickey replied. "But you did say we would have to deal with them when the time came."

"Yeah, but on our terms!" the silver haired boy shot back. "Now we just have to get ready for what they throw at us!"

"Like I said, I'm sorry!" Mickey reiterated. "I just wanted to know what it was."

"Yeah sure you did." Riku said sarcastically. "Now let's just go, all right?"

With that the companions stopped speaking and retreated back into the circular passageways where they stood some chance of fighting off any Heartless that appeared. Strangely however, none did. Instead the companions could hear a sound in the distance as of metal clanking on stone. They waited, the tension putting Riku nearly on edge. Finally, there were other sounds, distorted by the curve of the passageways and the presence of the debris in the hallway, but still identifiable as the sound of metallic footsteps on the stone floor.

The beings that emerged appeared to be similar to the machines that attacked Riku and Mickey earlier. However as the two companions got a look at them it became clear that these were different, having a humanoid configuration, their 'bodies' made up of segmented rings of a much darker metal than the others. Furthermore their limbs did not float in midair but were attached to their bodies at enlarged shoulder and pelvic regions so that their torsos looked like large dumbbells. The elbow and knee joints were enlarged spheres, and the hands were simple claws attached at similar spherical wrist joints.

The dead giveaway that the approaching figures were not what they seemed though was the heads. They were spheres like the joints, but much larger, and featured what appeared to be a large glass 'eye', surrounded by a ring of metal studded with rivets, with similar metal rings where the 'ears' would be. Then as one of the creatures rounded the corner, it spotted the two companions and shouted out in a clearly human, if slightly metallic voice."

"First Officer, Sir!"

Another voice answered from around the bend "Yes, What, did you find it?"

Riku and Mickey took up defensive stances.

"No Sir!" the figure near them replied. "Just some kid and I don't know what. Looks kind of like a mouse!"

"Well get them!" the other voice said. "They may know where IT is!"

With those words the armored figures moved to attack, wielding their hand claws as weapons. Riku and Mickey summoned their weapons. Three of the attacking figures moved into a formation intended to catch the two in a pincer attack, two in front and to the sides, and the third a little ways back in the center position.

They were slow and a little clumsy however, as if they were not quite used to their own bodies, or perhaps as Riku had begun to suspect, they were actually pirates wearing armor they were not quite used to. If so, he could take them.

Thus Riku and Mickey easily avoided the first attack, the two pirates forming the pincers actually colliding with each other, their armor clanging with the impact. Riku focused his efforts on the figure to the rear, charging up to him and circling to the left side, trying to slip the Soul Eater's blade into one of the joints in his armor. However, the weapon just glanced off one of the spherical housings, allowing the pirate time to react, which he did, knocking Riku back behind him.

The boy staggered but did not go down, recovering his balance just in time to see the pirate turn around and face him. Meanwhile the other two pirates who had collided making their first rush also recovered, getting back on their feet with the whir of powered servomotors. They again started moving forward, toward Mickey who was between them and the third pirate. The Mouse did not see them, since he was concentrating on the action between Riku and the other pirate.

"Riku!" he shouted "I'm coming pal!" and rushed toward the third pirate just in time to avoid the two that were closing on him. Desperate to help his friend and having seen that his attack didn't work, Mickey instead jumped up, attempting to knock the pirate off balance. However the Mouse did not have either the mass or the momentum to stagger the armored man. He fell right onto his back, aggravating his shoulder injury in the process.

"Ouch!" Mickey said as he impacted, just before the pincers of one of the two pirates who were after him grabbed hold. "Hey, hey, let go you!" he said struggling.

Riku heard the shout, but was too busy himself to help, as the pirate in front of him was again closing for an attack. His right claw reached out to grab the young man, but all he got was the blade of the Soul Eater as Riku parried. However, instead of letting go and trying again, the raider began pulling on the boy's weapon, trying to disarm him.

"Sir, I got him!" a voice rang out as one of the others reported his success in capturing Mickey.

"No!" Riku shouted as he heard the report. With a flash of anger he attempted to activate his Dark Mode. However just at that moment something unexpected happened. Riku began to feel dizzy and lethargic as the world began to shimmer and distort around him. Losing strength he fell to the floor, losing his grip on his weapon, which was now held by the pirate.

The raider grabbed hold of the young man and pulled him up. "Well now, I guess you're just a kid after all." he said.

The pirate turned Riku around, painfully pinning his arms behind his back just as another armored figure, somewhat shorter than the others appeared from the passageway.

"Well, I see you got." the short armored figure began to say then stopped.

"YOU!" he said.

"You know him?" the pirate holding Riku said.

"Uh, well, yes." the short pirate said with a touch of bewilderment. "He used to work with us."

"Oh?" the other pirate replied as the other two behind him shifted from foot to foot, one of them holding a still struggling Mickey.

"Let us go, let us go you creeps!" the Mouse King demanded.

"Well what is this, a mouse?" the short armored figure asked.

"Yes Sir, First Officer! It seems to be!" the pirate holding Mickey confirmed.

"Let us go you pirates!" Mickey again demanded.

"You will be quiet!" the pirate holding Mickey shouted.

"Feisty isn't he?" the pirate First Officer said. "Well anyway the Captain will want to have a word with them. Take them away!"

* * *

Next time on Kingdom Hearts Trinity Sight: Road to Munchkin City.

* * *

Author's Note: Yeah I know, it seems like a lame plot device to have Riku suddenly overcome by weakness like that, but there is a good reason for it. (Those of you who are divers or know anything about diving would understand it.)

Cordially Yours: Talanane.


	7. Road to Munchkin City

Sclartaran Productions Presents

A Talanane Creation

Kingdom Hearts Trinity Sight

Episode VII: Road to Munchkin City.

Standard Disclaimer

The following is a work of fan-fiction. This means it contains characters, locations and other things drawn from various sources such as books, movies, television shows, anime and video games, none of which I own the rights to. In this episode they are Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts, Chain of Memories, by Square-Enix Inc and the Wizard of Oz Series, originally created by L. Frank Baum.

The next morning, Sora was once again ravenously hungry, as evidenced by his growling stomach. He got up, a little steadier than he had been the night before, but still he had not yet recovered fully. Looking around, the young man desperately searched for signs that any food remained from the previous evening. There was none.

"Hungry!" he said aloud to the air.

Back in the front hall of the Witch's castle, Donald and Goofy also awakened from their sleep, and as Sora they were also hungry, although to a lesser degree. There were a few rounds of 'No, you have it!', played between them as they tried to decide who got to eat the food remaining in the bag, but in the end they decided to share it. Unexpectedly, when they ate it, the half rations more than satisfied. In fact both Donald and Goofy were stuffed.

"Man, I don't know where this stuff came from, but it sure hit the spot!" Goofy said as he rubbed his slightly distended abdomen.

"Yeah Goofy" Donald replied. "It's weird, like there was something magic about it."

"Uh, Magic?" the dog man asked.

"Magic food you numbskull?" the duck quacked back at him, swinging his magic staff for emphasis.

"Oh, so who put it there?" Goofy asked.

"I don't know." Donald answered. "That's what worries me."

"What do you mean?" his friend asked.

Donald gave out a little quack of exasperation at Goofy's denseness.

"What?" Goofy said.

"Oh never mind!" Donald told him. "Let's just get out of here!"

As Tin Man returned to the camp, he found Sora standing near the fire looking a little dejected and holding his stomach.

"What's wrong?" Tin Man asked the young man.

"Hungry, I'm so hungry" Sora replied.

"Well, I'm sorry. I know that you haven't been eating well lately. You wouldn't have tried to raid the Witch's orchard yesterday if you were. Here, I have a few nuts and some berries I've scrounged up for you. It will have to do until we get to town."

Sora took the offered food and wolfed down the berries immediately, almost choking. Then he looked at the nuts, saw that they were still in their shells, then looking around spotted a medium sized stone that would work as a nutcracker. Going over to it, he picked it up, sat down and went to work. A few minutes later he had the nuts shelled and eaten.

After he had finished, Sora looked up at Tin Man and said simply, "Still hungry", even though the meager meal had taken enough of the edge off so that the hunger was no longer incapacitating.

"Like I said, I'm sorry." Tin Man apologized again. "We'll get you something really good when we get to town. You'll just have to hold on!"

Sora looked back at him and replied. "How long?" he asked.

"About two or three days, given your condition." the Tin Man answered.

Sora almost groaned, placing a hand on his abdomen. Tin Man had nothing to add though, and since apologizing would be useless, he simply moved off slowly toward the nearby road.

A couple of hours later, they had to stop, for the Keyblade Master had weakened again to the point to where he had trouble walking. Looking at him, Tin Man noticed and could almost swear that he has actually thinner than he had been earlier.

"_It's just my imagination, I hope."_ He thought to himself. _"I know he hasn't been eating well, but people, those of flesh and blood, don't get skinny all of a sudden, unless."_

"Sora" he addressed the boy.

"Yes?" the young man replied from his resting position on the ground.

"While you were in the Witch's Castle, did you touch anything unusual?"

"Unusual?" Sora asked back.

"Well, yes." Tin Man confirmed.

"I don't remember." the boy replied.

"Well, it was just a though I had." Tin Man finished. He didn't have the heart to tell him what he thought might have happened to him.

Sora just looked at him, not comprehending.

Meanwhile, Donald and Goofy were puffing along at a decent clip, unknowingly headed off in the opposite direction from where Sora and Tin Man were bound, headed toward the forest. Pausing for a short rest, they sat themselves down on the edge of the road.

"Huff Huff!" the Duck panted. "My age must be catching up to me Goofy, I'm beat!"

"Same here!" the Dog Man replied. After a pause, during which he happened to notice that Donald's tunic seemed to be tighter than usual, Goofy continued. "I don't think you're old Donald. You're just getting a little chubby around the middle, if you know what I mean."

"Quack!" the duck exclaimed, glaring at him. "I'm not fat! You're the chubby one!"

Goofy would have argued the point, but he just happened to look down at himself and realized that it was true. "Gosh, how did that happen?" he asked rhetorically.

"You ate too much, that's what happened!" Donald told him, swinging his magic staff for emphasis.

"Well so did you, apparently!" Goofy quipped back.

"Quack-Quack, so what!" the duck spat back at him.

"We just need to get some more exercise is all, I be thinking." the dog-man stated.

"Exercise!" the duck quacked. "What do you think we've been doing!" referring to the walking they had done to get that far.

"Well yeah." Goofy replied. "We just have to do some more of that."

"Well, not right now, I'm tired!" Donald retorted.

"Well fine, just sit there then!" Goofy spat back at him, sitting down himself.

A little later that afternoon, Sora collapsed, no longer able to walk, and now noticeably emaciated. _"I know that I am not one for deep thinking." _ Tin Man thought to himself. _"Thinking has always been Scarecrow's thing, even when he thought he didn't even have a Brain. But I definitely think that this is the result of some kind of spell or curse, being as the boy had been inside the old Witch's Castle." _With that thought, Tin Man quickened his pace, determined to get Sora to help as soon as possible, despite the moans of discomfort that the young man emitted.

Fortunately, a little while later, as Tin Man was rounding the bend, he could see in the distance a large farm cart, loaded down with produce, destined for the market in Munchkin City. It wasn't so fortunate for the farmer however, since the cart had lost one of its wheels and was now stuck in the middle of the road, while he and his son were desperately trying to repair it.

As he approached the two, carrying Sora on his back, Tin Man realized that he knew the man from a long time ago. Before he could call out to him, the farmer and his son heard the clanking noise of his approaching footsteps and turned in his direction.

"Oh! If it isn't old 'Ozzie'!" the farmer called out to him.

"Hello, Jeritt!" Tin Man called back, continuing his approach to them.

"It's been a long time." Tin Man replied. "And don't call me Ozzie!" he added. "I gave up that name a long time ago."

"Oh Ozzie, you know that incident wasn't your fault!" the farmer told him.

"It was and you know it!" Tin Man replied back. "In any case, we don't have time for that! My friend here is in trouble, due to something that happened to him inside the old Witch's Castle!" He turned his head to indicate Sora, whom he was carrying draped across his shoulders.

The farmer looked up at Sora, seeing how thin his face had become. "He certainly doesn't look well, does he? Needs some feeding up, he does."

"The effect of the curse, I think." Tin Man said.

"Yes, you did mention something about the old Castle, didn't you Ozzie." the farmer replied. "In any case, why don't you set him down someplace and I will see if there's any juice or something like that in our lunch sack. Then we'll take him back to the house later to rest."

"Well, thank you Jeritt." Tin Man said, accepting the farmer's offer. "I didn't know if Sora would have lasted until I could get him to town, the way he is now. Meanwhile, I will help you fix your wheel, so that we can get going."

"It's a deal!" the farmer said, extending his hand to his old friend. Then turning to his son, Jerritt Grenville called out "Nathan!"

"Yes Sir!" the farmer's son replied.

"You heard what I said a minute ago, didn't you!" the farmer answered back. "Go get one of those jugs of Bingleberry juice from the back, all right!"

"Yes Father!" the boy replied as he went off to fetch the jug.

Across the Multiverse, back in Castle Oblivion, Namine had eluded the Organization's lackeys for the time being, although they had spotted her a couple of times, so that they knew somebody was in fact there. Still, Namine had found a moment to rest and to worry about those who had been in her charge. Were they still alive? Had they found and eaten the special meals that she had prepared to offset the side effects of their long sleep?

Then, the moment of rest was over, as she could hear the approach of some of the large armored Heartless as they were moving along a nearby corridor. Slipping out of her hiding spot, she slunk away down a side passage too small for them to fit into. She had to find a 'safe area' soon, a place that the Heartless would not enter, for she was nearing complete exhaustion. Namine wasn't even sure she had the energy left to use her mental powers, in case one of the Human or Humanoid officers showed up.

"_Oh Sora."_ she thought. _"Please be all right!"_

Meanwhile, Donald and Goofy were awakened from and unintended nap by a loud roaring a little way off. Stirring, Donald said "Goofy, don't make so much noise, I'm trying to sleep."

"Huh?" Goofy replied. "Noise, I don't hear any noise."

The roaring sounded again.

"Quack!" Donald said.

"Oh that noise!" Goofy said simultaneously. "Sounds more like a roaring than a noise." he added.

Getting up and facing his friend, Donald told him. "Just cut it out already!"

"I'm not doing it!" Goofy said truthfully.

In the meantime, since the two of them were engaged in their argument, they did not notice a rustling in the nearby bushes, a sign that the roar's true owner was approaching them. A moment later the roar sounded one last time, right next to them, scaring them almost right out of their skins. They spun right toward the source and saw the dark golden mane, streaked with gray and scarred face of a large and venerable Lion.

Author's Note: I know that this update has taken awhile. I am sorry and I know that there is no suitable excuse, in the view of you the reader. I've just been busy doing other things, as we all are from time to time.

Cordially Yours, Talanane.


	8. To Zelan Station

Sclartaran Productions Presents

A Talanane Creation

Kingdom Hearts Trinity Sight

Episode VIII: To Zelan Station.

* * *

After he had collected his bag and said his goodbyes to Odin, Ryo made his way through the hallways of the Mansion, occasionally encountering a fellow Esper who wished him well as he passed. He reached the entrance, where more students had gathered to see him off, some cutting class to do so.

"Thank you, thank you!" Ryo told them. "Now excuse me, I really have to go."

Finally, the young man left the well wishers behind and made his way to the windswept plateau where a medium sized ship waited. Standing outside the boarding hatch was the android Wren, whom he had met earlier. Standing on the ramp itself was a small yellow something. As Ryo approached, the something moved, revealing itself to be a living creature.

"At last!" the creature said, surprising the young man momentarily.

"Oh, hello there." the young man replied, as he realized that he was seeing a Musk Cat, a species Native to Dezolis, and unlike most small cats, quite intelligent.

"Welcome Journeyman Urawa." the Musk Cat greeted him, the line sounding obviously rehearsed. The cat continued, introducing himself. "I am called K'Panth, a Musk Cat from the tribe of Old Man Myau."

"Yes, I've heard of Musk Cats, and the role of 'Old Man Myau' in Algo history. I didn't expect to see one here today though."

"Meiu." the Musk Cat said. "True, our people do not often venture far from our caves. However, a few days ago the current Old Man, the one who followed when the Old Man died, had a dream."

"A dream?" the young man asked.

"Yes," K'Panth replied. "He says that he saw some sort of room or chamber full of great machines, then a great number of things like shadows. He did not know what it meant, so he sent me to ask the advice of the Lutz. When I met him this morning, he told me about you and the quest you were being sent on. He also suggested that the Old Man's dream may be related and that I should accompany you."

As K'Panth told him about this, faint memories of Ryo's own vision of a chamber filled with scientific equipment, and a young girl briefly resurfaced. "I see." He said. Then he said "I too have had visions, of some kind of laboratory, and of at least one young girl being held captive."

The young Musk Cat's tail twitched then lashed as he said "Yes! The Old Man did say something about seeing Alis in his vision, all frozen! Only Queen Alis died a long time ago!"

"That's what the history books say anyway" Ryo confirmed, but at the same time winking at the Musk Cat. I also know that certain powerful people or other beings do not always stay dead."

"Like Lassic." K"Panth stated as an example.

"Well, yes." Ryo replied. "The Profound Darkness' influence allowed him to return during the Final Cycle. But I was thinking about something more along the lines of Urabolian Transmigration, the rebirth of a powerful destined soul inside of a new body."

"Oh! What?" the Musk Cat replied. "Are you saying that the Queen could be alive?"

"I don't know." the young Esper told him. "It's just a hypothesis I heard in class one day. There's no hard evidence either for or against it. Anyway, we didn't come here to talk about reincarnation."

"We have to go." K'Panth replied.

"We?" the young man asked, then remembered "Oh yes, you did say something about coming along didn't you?"

K'Panth just meowed in a tone that suggested 'Of Course'. Then shrugging, Ryo bent down and offered to shake the Musk Cat's paw in a show of friendship, saying "In that case, welcome aboard K'Panth."

After accepting the young Esper's handshake sealing their new friendship, K'panth spoke again, admitting "Actually, I'm a little nervous about getting in that machine." as he gestured toward the spacecraft sitting on the ice field. "I know that the 'Old Man', did it in his travels, but still."

Wren, who was still standing beside the ramp spoke up, having heard K'Panth's concern. "You do not need to board if you are not confident. I acknowledge that there is an element of risk in any space travel. However you can rest assured that I have done and will continue to do all I can to assure your and the Esper Journeyman's safety during the flight."

K'Panth turned toward the android and replied. "I'm not scared, I'm not!" and dashed up the ramp into the ship. Ryo simply shrugged his shoulders and followed.

As the two of them boarded the vessel, the android Wren followed behind them saying "Welcome aboard the Landale sirs." Then indicating the direction with his left arm he added "Please proceed to your left to reach the bridge. I will show you to your quarters after launch."

Ryo and K'Panth complied, soon arriving at a rather old-fashioned pressure door, complete with hand operated locking wheel. Meanwhile in the distance, a rumbling and whirring sound could be heard as Wren closed and locked the outer hatch.

"Huh, what kind of door is this?" K'Panth asked.

"Oh this?" the Esper replied. "This is in case there's ever a hole in the hull. You close and lock these doors to seal off the part of the ship where the hole is so that you only lose the air from that part of the ship, not all of it."

"Huh?" the Musk Cat said, confused.

"I'll explain it again later." Ryo replied. "Now if I remember those old movies right, you turn the wheel to the left to open it." The young man tried this, but the wheel would not turn. A moment later he found out that this was because the door was not sealed, as evidenced by its slight movement inward when Ryo put pressure on the wheel to get a better grip.

"Of course, the crew wouldn't seal these doors while the ship was on the ground." Ryo said with a touch of embarrassment.

They entered the bridge area, which more closely resembled the cockpit of a 1960's era jumbo jet in that almost all the controls and instrument displays were analog. Indeed, looking toward the pilot's station, Ryo and K'Panth found that there was actually a control yoke like those found in jumbo jets. Before either of them could comment on the layout, Wren entered the bridge.

"You probably wish to inquire about why the Landale's instrumentation seems so primitive. Most first time passengers do." Wren supplied.

The Esper and Musk Cat turned toward him, nodding simultaneously.

"If you recall your Algo history Master Urawa, you know that the Landale was originally constructed as a pirate vessel during the domination of Mother Brain. As such, she was designed without any on board computers or unnecessary electronic components, in order to be resistant to the Mother Brain's control. All navigation was done by feeding the relevant data into a portable self-contained navigation computer and the results fed into the control systems manually."

"I see." Ryo answered. "I thought they only did that in old Science Fiction movies."

Wren was confused for a few seconds while he searched his memory for the reference. Then finding it he said "Oh, I see sir. Rest assured that I can manage, even with such antiquated systems. If you and your companion would just take your stations, we will begin departure proceedings."

Ryo and K'Panth took the seats indicated by the android, which just so happened to be the navigator's and gunners stations respectively. As the Esper strapped in, (The restraint systems weren't made for cats, so the Musk Cat didn't.) Wren switched on the intercom, giving orders to the robots stationed in the engine room to start up the systems. A few moments later a low whine could be heard from behind and below and the ship began t vibrate slightly as the engines ignited. A moment later the whine and vibration increased as Ryo and K'Panth felt a slight increase in weight as the Landale lifted off the ground. Then they felt a slight twisting sensation as the ship turned. Then the android announced "Prepare for acceleration!" just before the engine whine began to ramp up to a roar, accompanied by a force shoving everybody right back into their seats.

The roar, vibration and pressure continued for several minutes as the ship climbed and accelerated into orbit. Then the noise and sensation of great weight eased as orbital velocity was reached. Wren announced "Estimated time until transfer orbit insertion approximately thirty seven minutes. You may want to use this time to use the head or take some motion sickness medication. The main crew facilities are at the end of the connecting passage, down one level, up another passage and to your left."

The journey to Zelan station was relatively uneventful, marred only by K'Panth becoming space sick once or twice. Ryo explained to him that his condition was simply "The information from your ears' gravity and acceleration sensors contradicting the information from your eyes. You simply have to learn to deal with it, since I don't know if the medicines aboard this ship would help you or kill you." K'Panth's reply to this led to a discussion about the differences in metabolism between species and that because of this, what may help one species could harm or kill another. The explanation only made K'Panth dizzier, as evidenced by the flow of vomit from the Musk Cat's mouth, which then proceeded to float inside the cabin. So in the end all Ryo got for his explanation and debate was the task of cleaning up the debris.

* * *

Rune Walsh, the Lutz of the Espers watched as the Landale took off and rushed away up into the sky. He sighed. Part of him wished that he too was going along with Ryo and the Musk Cat, to investigate and possibly fight alongside them and to possibly meet up again with his old friend Chaz Ashley. He shook his head. He knew he couldn't go, since his workload and responsibilities here at Esper Mansion took up too much of his time. Turning and looking up at the point in the sky where the ship had been lost from unaided sight, the Lutz said "My, and all of our hopes and wishes go with you young man."

* * *

Next time on Kingdom Hearts Trinity Sight: Captive, and with the Bends too!

* * *

Author's note: I know, I know. Another talky chapter of the Ryo arc, right. Don't worry, the next time this branch of the story comes up, the action will start heating up for our friends.

Cordially yours: Talanane.


	9. Chapter 9

Sclartaran Productions Presents

A Talanane Creation

Kingdom Hearts Trinity Sight

Episode IX: Captive, and with the Bends Too.

* * *

Standard Disclaimer

The following is a work of fan-fiction. This means it contains characters, locations and other things drawn from various sources such as books, movies, television shows, anime and video games, none of which I own the rights to. In this episode they are Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts, Chain of Memories, by Square-Enix Inc, and Skies of Arcadia Legends, by SEGA. There may also be an appearance by one character from Martian Successor Nadesico.

* * *

When Riku awoke, he paid little attention to the fact that he did so in a cell in the pirate's brig. That was because he was also in excruciating pain, in his head, in his joints, everywhere.

"Ohh!" the young man said. He had no idea of why he was in such pain, nor was he in any shape to think about it, since it had affected his mind as well as his body. All he had was a vague impression of having been attacked.

King Mickey on the other hand was in much better shape. He was still affected by the bends like most air breathing creatures would be after having been under such high atmospheric pressure. However due to his magical 'Toon' nature, it didn't incapacitate him. Thus he could still function well enough to be concerned about his friend.

Meanwhile on the bridge of the 'sub' two figures were speaking. One was a middle aged man wearing a large frock coat and a large frilled hat, who obviously had the misfortune of losing one hand and one leg, for in their place were a large metal hook and a wooden peg, respectively. He was pacing the deck right in front of the other, a short round man dressed in a blue striped shirt, ragged grey pants, and with a red bandana on his bald head. "What the eightch is taking that man so long?" the flamboyantly dressed man said as he nearly hooked the other man, who quickly scurried out of the way.

"Please calm down Captain" the short man exhorted him.

"Darn it Smee" the Captain said. "What is it with this Tenkawa swab anyway? He's late!"

At that moment there was a forceful puff of wind which ruffled the pirate Captain's gold trimmed scarlet coat and nearly blew his hat off, the Captain just managing to hold onto it with his good hand. "Captain Hook!" announced a young man's voice, which was pleasant but somehow devoid of emotion at the same time.

The two startled pirates wheeled around to face the voice's owner, who indeed seemed to be a young man in his late twenties. He was dressed in a large gray coat, and wore a red high tech visor with a flashing jeweled light on its top rim, right beside a noticeable Heartless emblem.

"With me Captain Hook?" he said. "There is much 'with me', but it does not concern you, or your task. You have not yet finished your task."

If Hook had had two good hands, he would have wrung them. "It's only a matter of time before we do sir."

"See that you do. Our Master eagerly awaits the Silver Moon Crystal."

Back in the brig, Mickey was shaking Riku's shoulder slightly and calling out to him in order to get his attention. "Riku, Riku, can you hear me friend."

"Uh barely, with all the roaring in my ears." the silver haired young man replied.

"Well the good news is that we're still alive."

"What, what news?" Riku replied, as the word 'news' was all he heard clearly.

"We're still alive!" Mickey said louder.

Riku didn't reply, since he had fallen unconscious again.

* * *

Far away, near a crescent shaped floating island off the northeastern coast of the Valuan continent, a small green ship emerged from a large hatch cut into the lower outside curve of the 'crescent'. Unlike the ship where Riku and Mickey were imprisoned, this one resembled nothing so much as a small fishing boat, which it in fact she had once been. However like that ship, and indeed most ships on the planet, she sailed the skies rather than the seas, and had distinctive features such as flapping propulsion fins which supplemented the lateen sails when higher speed was required, or there was not enough wind. Taking a closer look, there were also four cylindrical vertical lift vents, two on each side of the vessel, set at a forty-five degree angle to the vertical. Unlike most fishing boats, even on Arcadia, the Little Jack was armed, having two cannon ports on each side and a large 'harpoon cannon' mounted on her bow.

Standing on the bow right behind the harpoon cannon mount was a man in his early twenties, wearing a blue jacket which came down to his hips, tight form fitting blue pants, orange boots which came almost to his knees, and topped off with a wide brown leather belt, red bandana and distinctive glass eye-patch over his right eye, which was really a telescopic magnifying lens.

Captain Vyse stood there, contemplating the events of the last five years, from his leaving of his ancestral home on Pirate Isle with his friends Aika and Fina, through all their adventures as they fought the good fight against Galcian and Ramirez and the establishment of their own base at Crescent Isle, now rapidly falling away astern.

He remembered his old friend Drachma, whom the Little Jack had once belonged to. Soon it would be the first anniversary of the old fisherman-cum arcwhale hunter's death, and in fact Vyse, along with select members of his crew were sailing to pay their respects at his memorial.

A few moments later Vyse's attention was caught by the sound of footsteps on the deck behind him. He turned and saw a young woman wearing a tight yellow tunic over a pair of brown short shorts, her flaming red hair done up in a pair of ridiculously stiff Pippi-Longstockingesque pigtails which stuck almost straight out to either side of her head.

"Hey Vyse, what are you doing out here?" she said as she strode up to him.

"Oh hello Aika." he replied.

"Don't 'hello Aika' me! I know when you're thinking about something, and you're thinking about something!"

"I was remembering about how you, me Fina and Captain Drachma were in the old days, but you broke my train of thought!"

"Should've figured that" Aika said pensively. "Since we all are. I guess things aren't like they used to be."

"You're right about that." Vyse replied. "Things are getting a little boring in our 'line of work."

* * *

Back in the sub's brig, Riku once again awakened, his headache and joint pain still present, although less severe. He found Mickey looking at him, a slight look of relief on the Mouse King's face.

"Thank goodness" Mickey said. "Are you feeling better?"

"A little" Riku replied.

Mickey turned away for a second, and when he turned back he had a small bowl of lumpy gray porridge in his hand. "Here, have some of this."

Although the boy didn't feel very hungry at the moment, Riku accepted the bowl and began picking at the contents, taking a few bites before putting it down again.

"Not very good, is it?" the Mouse King commented shaking his head. "But what can you expect from pirates?"

"Not again" Riku said as he rubbed his temples. "Why must it always be pirates? I hate pirates."

"Well, that's what we have." Mickey replied. "One of them looked in on us while you were sleeping."

"Well what did they want?"

"How should I know? They didn't tell me."

Riku slowly rose, just barely able to stand unsteadily on his feet, the effort making his joints complain. "What did they do to us?" he asked.

"I don't know that either. It seemed to me that they did nothing to you, you just suddenly slowed down and collapsed."

"Oh!" the young man replied.

Before they could discuss their problems further, a harsh clank came from the cell door and one of the pirates stuck his head inside. Seeing that Riku was conscious he said "Oh you're awake now? Well the Cap'n wants to see ya!"

The pirate opened the door fully and entered, followed by two more pirates carrying belaying pins and having ropes slung over their shoulders, obviously to be used to tie poor Mickey and Riku up for their trip to see the ship's C.O. Neither of them put up much resistance, as Riku had not yet fully recovered and Mickey wanted to see who was behind this particular group of pirates.

The Mouse King had not long to wait, since before long the pirates had led them though a series of metallic corridors and then forced them to climb a ladder, not easy since their hands were tied. They arrived in a long oval room, the walls of which were lined with consoles, gauges, valve wheels, levers and buttons. Riku didn't take much time to take in the layout of the control room however, as his attention was caught by the hook-handed pirate in the crimson coat in front of them, the Captain.

"You!" both the young man and the Captain shouted simultaneously as Riku tried to struggle against his bonds and the pirates holding onto him. Since the ropes were tied tightly and Riku had not yet fully recovered, this was futile, and Captain Hook strode up to the boy, holding his hook close to the young man's face.

"Now boy, what were you doing down in the old city, pray tell? Looking for treasure perhaps?"

"What treasure?" Riku asked angrily. "What would I know about any treasure, you pirate?"

"Don't play stupid with me boy! I'm talking about jewels, big ones!"

"I don't know, didn't see any! All the treasure chests we found were empty! If we found anything, we certainly wouldn't give it up to the likes of you!"

"That's right!" Mickey added. "Not even the time of day, you pirate!"

Captain hook, visibly upset, moved his hook even closer to Riku's face. "Don't play dumb boy! Why else would you be in that old ruin, eh?

Riku spat in Hook's face barely missing the pirate's good eye. Hook growled in irritation, then said "Don't be so cheeky boy! I have ways of getting what I want, I just have to think of one!" as he drew the point of his hook against the young man's cheek, leaving a freshly bleeding scratch.

"Go ahead and do it, if you want!" Riku told him. "Torture me, kill me, I don't care! I'm telling you nothing! I swear I will pay you back for everything, even if I must come back from the dead to do so!"

"What can a ghost do to me eh? Nothing I wager!" Hook drew back, pacing with a step-clunk back and forth two times in a semicircle around Riku. Finishing with that, he moved toward Mickey, placing his hook near the Mouse's ear. "Maybe if the Man won't tell me, the Mouse will?"

"Like I said before, I wouldn't even give you the time of day!"

"I've got clocks to tell me the time, mouse! Now tell me what you two were looking for in that old city!"

Mickey said nothing.

"Bah!" Captain Hook exclaimed. "Put those two back in their cell while I think of a suitable torture!"

* * *

Next time on Kingdom Hearts Trinity Sight: The Lion doesn't sleep tonight.

* * *

Author's note: I know that this update is late, and I know that parts of this are probably lame. It's just that sometimes other things call one away.

Cordially yours: Talanane.


	10. The Lion Doesn't Sleep Tonight

Sclartaran Productions Presents

A Talanane Creation

Kingdom Hearts Trinity Sight

Episode 10: The Lion Doesn't Sleep Tonight.

* * *

Standard Disclaimer

The following is a work of fan-fiction. This means it contains characters, locations and other things drawn from various sources such as books, movies, television shows, anime and video games, none of which I own the rights to. In this episode they are Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts, Chain of Memories, by Square-Enix Inc and the Wizard of Oz Series, originally created by L. Frank Baum. There is also an appearance by one Sailor Moon 'Monster'.

* * *

Donald and Goofy found themselves fact to face with a large and venerable Lion. The two of them took up defensive stances as the Lion spoke, asking "Who are you and what are you doing in my domain?"

Donald, although startled by the Lion's sudden appearance and challenge answered with his usual bluster "Quack! We might ask you the same thing you overgrown pussycat!"

"Now Donald, let's not upset him too much!" Goofy chimed in right after, before the Lion could reply.

"Mind your own business Goofy!" Donald snapped back.

"Well, it's just that this is a Lion, and they can get pretty upset. We don't want any unnecessary violence do we?"

"That's not the point Goofy! He shouldn't just come up to people all roaring without announcing himself!"

The banter went on for several more lines, until the Lion, more than a little annoyed at being ignored and talked about as if he wasn't there, roared again, startling them back to reality. "Excuse me! I hate to interrupt, but I really think it is rude to just ignore your host like this! Now tell me, who you are and I shall tell you who I am. That's how it works, isn't it?"

Goofy answered "Uh sorry! My friend and I were just having a little argument."

"We were not!" Donald spat back.

Goofy ignored him and continued "Ah yes, now I am Goofy, and this is Donald. We're both travelers trying to get back to Disney Castle."

"I've never heard of it." the Lion answered simply. "As for me, I am known as the Lion, and I rule this wood."

"Much obliged Sir Lion." Goofy replied. Donald said nothing as his was sulking from being interrupted in his rant. Goofy continued, apologizing for him "I'm so sorry to be getting off on the wrong foot like this, but my friend her can be a little rash sometimes."

"Quite all right Goofy. I've sometimes been a little rash myself. Now as I said, I've never heard about any Disney Castle in Oz. That means that you two must be from another country. But that's impossible nowdays!"

"Huh!" Goofy replied.

"I mean that since Queen Ozma put up the great barrier, all entrance or exit from the country was supposed to be impossible. Yet here you are."

"Well" Donald chimed in, now paying attention to what was going on. "There must have been some magic involved. There were a lot of magic knickknacks in the room we woke up in inside that old castle."

"What old castle?" the Lion asked, it now being his turn to be puzzled.

"I don't remember where it was to tell the truth, but it was an old castle with a lot of magic stuff inside it."

"The old Witch's Castle?" the big cat asked.

"It could have been for all I know" Donald told him.

"Hmm, I don't know what to think, but I bet the Queen or old Glinda could figure it out, since they're both Witches, Good Witches that is, themselves."

"Huh?" both Donald and Goofy said simultaneously.

"Well you'll just have to meet them and you'll see." Lion told them. "I'll show you the way to Emerald City if you wish."

Donald and Goofy looked at each other as if sharing the same thoughts. Then Donald spoke saying "Well, we don't have any better ideas, so I guess we'll go. Lead on you big pussycat!"

The Lion was a little rankled by Donald calling him a 'pussycat', but being a noble creature he motioned for the others to follow him anyway along the road to Emerald City.

* * *

A little ways down the road in the opposite direction from the way Donald, Goofy and the Lion were headed Tin Man was busy helping the Munchkin farmer Jeritt Grenville and his son Nathan repair their farm cart in return for some food for Sora and a ride back to their farm so that the boy could rest. They were making good progress, having jacked up the cart's axle and successfully remounting the wheel upon it. Now all that had to be done was to drive a cotter pin through the hole on the end of the axle to hold the wheel on. Problem was the farmer didn't have one, since that was the part that had broken in the first place. So it was that Tin Man had to leave Sora and the farmers for a while in search of a suitable piece of wood to carve a new temporary one. Moving off the road toward a small clump of trees, the metallic woodsman thought he saw something out of the corner of his eye. Turning to get a better look, he found nothing and so continued on his search for the proper kind of wood for the cotter pin. A little while later he found what he was looking for, a standing dead elm that had baked dry in the summer sun and had not rotted away or been eaten by termites. Selecting a branch that was nearly the right size, he cut it off the tree, cut it to length and started back to the camp.

Meanwhile, farmer Grenville's son Nathan had managed to get the unconscious Sora to take a little Bingleberry juice. The farmer's son watched the Keyblade Master, seeing that he was not getting any worse, although he wasn't getting any better either. Nathan's father, not having anything else to do until Tin Man returned with the wood for the cotter pin, came over and crouched down beside the two boys Looking at Sora the farmer commented, asking the obvious question about who he really was and where he was from, since Tin Man didn't say.

"Well in any case, if all this is in fact due to some left over magic or curse from that old witch, the best thing to do, after getting him back to the house would to be for old Ozzie to get back to Emerald City and talk to the Queen, or perhaps Glinda. They would know something about this sort of thing."

Nathan nodded, agreeing since he himself had no better ideas, as he had no experience with curses or magic himself. Both of them continued to watch the other boy as he slept.

* * *

Elsewhere, in the castle known as Oblivion, Namine awakened from an unintended nap, forced on her by sheer exhaustion. She awakened to find out that the worst had happened, that is she had been captured by the Organizations thugs, as she found herself being carried by her arms and legs by two of them.

"Hey, hey, let go of me you creeps!" Namine said as she began to struggle against her captors.

"Be quiet girlie!" a third thug shouted as he backhanded her in the face.

"Now now," a female voice sounded from behind them. "We don't want her mind damaged, do we?"

The thugs turned their heads to look at the woman, who just happened to have pea green skin, wore a monocle and a lab coat, and had a bright red shock of hair hanging down in a ponytail from the top of an otherwise shaved head.

"Mistress Riko, we didn't know you were" one thug started to say.

The woman sighed. "Of course you common thugs don't know anything. This girl, if she is one of the seven, is destined to play a great part in our plans. Remember that!"

Namine's heart sank a little. She remembered enough of what she had overheard years ago from some of the Organization's officers to have some idea of what 'their plans' entailed. If they managed to force their way into 'that place' she had heard about and had seen in Sora's memories, the entire Multiverse could very well be doomed!"

"Listen Riko!" she shouted. "Don't do this! If you succeed, there will be nothing left, anywhere or anytime!"

The woman 'Riko' stepped around her subordinates and turned to face her. Then she said "That would not matter to our Master, even if it were true, which it is not. And by the way the name is Rikotechtiton, Chief Scientist of the Organization, and one of the Seven Great Monsters of the old Dark Kingdom."

"That you're a Monster is quite obvious!" Namine retorted. "However, one day I or someone else will defeat you! That I promise!"

"You must be referring to that so-called Keyblade Master that you have until recently been sheltering. Well, hope all you want. No power in all the Universes can defeat our Master."

Rikotechtiton turned away and walked on down the castle corridor, giving orders to her thugs to follow and bring Namine, who continued to struggle against her captors, occasionally shouting defiance and curses at them.

* * *

In the farmer's camp by the side of the Yellow Brick Road, Sora groaned and talked in his sleep. "No, no! Please, please don't take her away! You can't!" Jerritt and his son assumed that this was simply due to the effects of the young man's exhaustion and starvation. He continued to talk, saying "You fiend, let her go, I'm warning you!"

Sora turned and twisted, as if trying to get up and confront whomever or whatever had captured the unknown girl in his dream. Jerritt and Nathan Grenville moved quickly to hold the young man down and prevent him from hurting himself, or them, in his raving. It was at that moment that Tin Man returned carrying the wood for the new cotter pin.

Tin Man rushed over to the cart, axe in one hand and stick in the other shouting "Hey! What is it, what's wrong!"

Jerritt and Nathan turned around with as start, as their nerves were already on edge from dealing with Sora. "Oh Ozzie, you startled us!"

"Sorry, I thought that some wild beast was attacking or something!"

"Oh it was nothing like that! The boy was just having a nightmare and shouting in his sleep, right Nathan?"

The boy nodded.

"Oh, I'm glad" Tin Man answered.

"I'm not surprised that the boy's having bad dreams. I would too if I were starving." The farmer patted his stomach for emphasis.

"Poor Sora!" the Tin Man said empathetically.

"We better hurry and get that wheel fixed!" Jerritt said. "The boy may not have much time left!"

With that, the conversation ended, and everybody went back to their tasks. Jerritt and Nathan to tending Sora, and Tin Man went to work carving down the piece of wood he was carrying into usable form.

* * *

Back in the wooded area that Tin Man had just left, a number of small black creatures roughly shaped like humanoids with large glowing yellow eyes were looking toward the road, their stances somehow conveying a sense of barely contained anticipation and longing. Milling about, some of the beings started to edge toward the road, only to stop when the gems mounted in their strange headbands glowed and pulsed briefly. Standing in their midst was a taller, more recognizably humanoid figure, dressed in a slightly frayed black dress and wearing a worn and bent black pointed hat. Furthermore, she had a long pointed nose and warty green skin on her face and hands. In other words, she was the stereotype of a Wicked Witch. In one hand she held an old magic wand with a tarnished silver tip and cracked varnish. In the other she had a brand new looking electronic device, a box with three variously colored square buttons and having a small antenna sticking out of the top. Like the creatures around her, she too was watching the road.

Suddenly, a soft glow began in one of the pouches the Witch kept on the cord tied about her waist, along with a soft ringing sound. She reached down and opened the pouch, taking a small crystal ball out and looking into it, stuffing the wand into the pouch temporarily.

"Yes master?" the Witch said to the image in the crystal ball, a touch of bitterness and resentment in her voice at having to take orders from anyone other than herself.

"Word has been received that a second Princess of Mind has just been captured, and that Castle Oblivion has been secured. Have you made any progress in your search?"

"I, I'm sorry Sir. Both 'candidates', indicated by my spies have turned out to be negative. However, there is something in this area that is drawing the Heartless to it. I have had to use the control device twice to keep them from charging."

"Oh, I see." the image in the crystal said. "There must be a very strong, pure heart in the area, perhaps that of one of the fugitives that we have been searching for. Check it out. In any case, we are going to the next phase of the Grand Plan. More Heartless will begin arriving on your world shortly."

"Yes, yes, good." the Witch said. "I will capture the 'fugitives'."

"Negative Witch." the voice replied. "If it is who I suspect it is, I'm sure the Master will want him dead!"

"I'll make sure that 'he' suffers greatly before he dies."

"Do what you will. Just don't gloat too much." Then before the Witch could complain, the image in the ball faded out.

* * *

Next time on Kingdom Hearts Trinity Sight: Attack on Zelan, the War begins.

* * *

Author's Note: This episode came together much faster than the last few I've written. I'm on a roll. In any case, just as the next episode's title suggests, the real conflict is about to begin. Look forward to it.

Cordially yours: Talanane.


	11. Attack on Zelan

Sclartaran Productions Presents

A Talanane Creation

Kingdom Hearts Trinity Sight

Episode XI: Attack on Zelan, the War Begins

* * *

Standard Disclaimer

The following is a work of fan-fiction. This means it contains characters, locations and other things drawn from various sources such as books, movies, television shows, anime and video games, none of which I own the rights to. In this episode they are Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts, Chain of Memories, by Square-Enix Inc, the Phantasy Star Series by SEGA Inc, and Sailor Moon, originally created by Naoko Takeuchi.

* * *

Deep in space, between the planets of the Algo Star System floated a large complex space station, all gleaming metal with occasional bits of transparent material marking the view ports. A small distance away, in astronomical terms, a much smaller metal structure approached, maneuvering and decelerating for a docking. Aboard that vessel were three beings, one Human, one Android, and one Cat., sitting at various stations on the ship's bridge either operating the systems or waiting for the docking to be complete.

"That Master Urawa, is Zelan Station" the Android Wren stated, indicating the large structure their ship was approaching.

The young Esper simply nodded, as he knew from his lessons and the studying he had done while on board what Zelan was and it's basic function.

"Wow!" K'Panth said, the tone of the word making him sound very much like the Musk Cat he was.

"It is, isn't it 'Panth.'" Ryo commented. "The only space station I knew of, at least while I was still living on Earth, was some old rickety Russian affair made up out of connected sections, like tin cans."

"Tin cans?" the Musk Cat asked.

"You know, closed metal cylinders containing preserved food, like Tuna for instance?"

"Huh, no, I don't." K'Panth answered. "And what's Tuna?"

Ryo shook his head. "That's right, you wouldn't know, since your 'people' don't use cans." He then started to laugh a little, although he tried to control himself.

"Meow-hiss!" the Musk Cat retorted, "What is so funny?"

"I'm sorry, hah hah! It's just that I was imagining one of your people trying to use a can opener."

"Hiss hiss! I still don't see what's so funny about 'cans' and 'can openers'."

"I said I was sorry K'Panth, for laughing at you. I will explain all that I know about cans and canning later, after we've docked, all right?"

K'Panth's tail was twitching as he said "All right, but remember it's a promise!"

Thirty six minutes later, the Landale docked, and right away K'Panth looked toward Ryo, his eyes demanding that explanation. Ryo, seeing that his friend would not wait any longer, thought for a moment and then began.

"All right, in order to understand what cans are and the canning process, you first must know what germs are, do you?"

"Germs?" the Musk Cat asked. Then realizing what the young Esper meant he said "Oh yes! Someone once told me that they're something like very small animals that can get into someone's body and make him/her sick."

"Okay then. Then what happens when you leave food sitting out too long?"

"It rots." K'Panth replied.

"Right" Ryo answered back. "And food rots because the spores of certain microorganisms, germs if you will, settle out of the air and start to grow. Many of these also produce poisons while they grow, and that is what can make you sick."

K'Panth nodded, indicating that Ryo should go on. The young man then went on to explain the concept of the can and the role of heat in cooking and sterilizing the food within. "You must be sure to heat the can long enough to kill all of the germs, because if not, there are some kinds, known as anaerobic bacteria, which can grow inside a sealed can without needing air. One of the worst of these is the bacteria whose poison causes botulism."

"If it's so dangerous, why do your people do it?"

"Oh, you don't have to worry too much about it. Most commercial canned goods are safe. After all, I've eaten them many times in my old life, and I'm still here."

K'Panth wasn't totally convinced, but nodded, seeing the truth in Ryo's statement.

* * *

Elsewhere, on a much older spacecraft's bridge, an apparently aged man dressed in equally ancient, evil looking armor, stared out of the cracked forward viewing port, which just happened to look out in the relative direction of Zelan Station. If anyone else had been in the room, they would have noticed a slight shuddering as of nervousness and anticipation.

"Soon, very soon I will have my retribution, retribution for those times that either Lutz or his proxies have stopped me. Soon once again all of Algo will tremble under my hand!"

As soon as he had finished his tirade, a low beeping sound issued from one of the recently repaired consoles. He turned toward the console and activated it with one armor gloved hand. As he did so, a woman's voice issued from the speakers.

"Lord Lassic, the 'subject' has been located and apprehended."

"That is very good. Take her to the gate room immediately upon her arrival!"

"Yes my lord!" the woman replied. "Shall we initiate the next phase?"

"Yes, you can do that" Lassic replied, then switched off the circuit.

* * *

Meanwhile, Ryo had finally finished explaining cans to K'Panth, and the two of them had debarked from the ship and were in one of the main corridors of the space station, where some ingenious entrepreneurs had set up kiosks selling various sundry items. As in many such cases, much of what was for sale was in one word, junk. Ordinarily he would not have paid much attention to the salespeople, but this time something made him stop at one offering 'Authentic Historical Reproductions' from the time of Queen Alis. One item in particular, ironically packed in flat, rectangular, blue and white painted cans.

"K'Panth, look at this."

"Meow, yes?"

"There, on that shelf there. Those are cans."

The Musk Cat went over and stood on his hind feet, leaning his forefeet against the metal of the counter front for balance. "Meow, I can't see."

"If I may?" Ryo asked, indication that he wished to pick him up.

As K'Panth didn't say anything, the young Esper reached down and hoisted his friend up and onto his shoulders. With a free hand he pointed. "See, on the second shelf toward the left. Those are the kind of cans that my people preserve sardines in."

"Huh?"

"Another fish from my home world, but they don't grow nearly as large at tuna."

"Oh!" K'Panth replied.

The shopkeeper overhearing their conversation, interrupted. "Excuse me sirs. If you like, I could just tell you about the product."

Both Ryo and K'Panth turned toward the kiosk. Ryo apologized for the scene that had occurred, bowing. "I'm so sorry about this, and yes, we would like that."

The young man tending the booth reached up and took hold of one of the aforementioned containers. "Well then, this here is none other than the historical travel ration Perymolate, once used by travelers on all three worlds. As such, it has a high nutritional value. In fact, it was also used at a treatment for starvation."

Ryo, suddenly remembering something from his history lessons, broke in at that time. "Oh, I've heard of it. I just didn't know that anyone still made it."

"Well sir, I don't know where the boss gets this stuff. All I'm supposed to do is sell it. Speaking of which, I don't suppose you would like one?"

Ryo was about to refuse, but then he had a sudden vision flash before his eyes of the body of what could have been a young man close to his own age. He couldn't tell because the body was in an extremely emaciated condition. Then another vision came, this time of the night sky, where the stars seemed to be going out one by one.

Shaking his head, the young Esper said. "Yes, I would like ten of them."

"Ten!" the shopkeeper gasped.

"Yes, we may be going on a trip soon, so we may need it."

With that, Ryo walked up to the counter and the transaction took place. He also purchased ten cans of a travel drink that the merchant told him traditionally went with the Perymolate. Ryo had just stashed the food and drink in his travel bag when suddenly a claxon started ringing nearby.

"Intruder Alert, Intruder Alert! Unidentified creatures have infiltrated the residential section!" Then sounds of a struggle came through the open mike, continuing for several seconds then there was a scream. "No, please no, ahhh!" Then only the sounds of milling creatures could be heard.

Then there was a woowoo sound nearby and Ryo sensed the energy of something similar to a Ryuka technique coming from the same direction. He and K'Panth turned in that direction and saw a number of short dark creatures of a rough humanoid shape, with glowing yellow eyes. They bore a marking of a black broken heart in a circle, crossed out. Furthermore, all of them had small metallic objects on their foreheads, each with flashing lights like jewels on them. As they observed, some of them began to close in on them.

"Meowhiss!" the Musk cat said as his hackles rose.

"It's starting!" Ryo said as he took his Esper's staff out of his cloak. K'Panth took up a position beside him, fangs and claws bared, while the merchant at the stall just hid behind the counter. One of the Shadows charged, and was quickly deflected by a smack of Ryo's staff. K'Panth slashed at another. Neither of the creatures seemed to take any damage. Seeing that was the case, Ryo tried one of his techniques.

"Zan!" the Esper shouted in an effort to push the creatures back and gain time. The whirlwind technique had the desired effect, and this time the monsters took some damage. K'Panth followed up with a flying leap at the nearest creature, knocking it back a little bouncing off, flipping, and landing in front of it.

Before the Shadows could regroup for another assault, Ryo used the defensive technique 'Deban' to reduce the amount of damage the creatures' attacks could do to them. K'Panth assaulted the one in front of him with a Claw Slash Special, which also seemed to hurt it.

Nearby, the whining sound of laser rifles could be heard as a group of security personnel tried to enter the concourse. Not all that successfully, as their weapons had no effect. Very quickly the creatures overwhelmed all but two of them, one man and one woman, who were wielding sword and boomerang respectively, and were like K'Panth, using special attacks.

"Hey Chief!" the woman said. "What kind of Biomonsters are these?"

"I don't know Lieutenant! Only that our people are being overwhelmed!" He then shouted an order "We have to fall back!"

"Chief, Help!" a voice to their left shouted out. The Captain didn't have time do so, since he and the Lieutenant were busy defending themselves.

"NO!" the besieged security officer to the left screamed. The creatures now covered him, and one of them extended a clawed hand toward his chest, then inside of it. The guard screamed as the creature pulled its hand out, bringing with it a shining pink star shaped crystal. A moment later the man convulsed, his body writhing. Then he started to change, his body contorting and actually shrinking. He lost his individual features, his skin darkening to black, and his eyes turned yellow. When the process was finished, he could not be distinguished from any of the creatures that had attacked him. He was one of them! Meanwhile, the crystal that one creature had extracted from the guard had floated up over the milling creatures and with a pop, disappeared who knows where.

Ryo and K'Panth heard the screaming, but were too besieged themselves to turn to look. However Ryo did see the flash of the disappearing crystal out of the corner of his eye. Momentarily he had a vision of a young girl with short blue-black hair dressed in a uniform resembling the sailor costume often worn by girls in Japanese schools, but with a shorter skirt. She was impaled upon a spear of ice and the body of a green insectoid creature was beside her. He didn't know, or is that remember who she was, but the flashback awakened something in his heart. He shouted out "No, not again!" and a light, like a pulsing energy field began radiating out from his body, spreading out into the surrounding area.

* * *

Next time on Kingdom Hearts Trinity Sight: A Memorial Interrupted.

* * *

Author's Note: Yes I know that the heart crystals in Kingdom Hearts are actually heart-shaped. However, since I am also using characters from Sailor Moon, I decided to depict those from the third season of the Anime series, which were spiky.

Cordially Yours: Talanane.


	12. A memorial interrupted

Sclartaran Productions Presents

A Talanane Creation

Kingdom Hearts Trinity Sight

Episode XII: A Memorial Interrupted.

* * *

Standard Disclaimer

The following is a work of fan-fiction. This means it contains characters, locations and other things drawn from various sources such as books, movies, television shows, anime and video games, none of which I own the rights to. In this episode they are Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts, Chain of Memories, by Square-Enix Inc, and Skies of Arcadia Legends, by SEGA.

* * *

Riku and Mickey were forcibly thrust back into their cell in the 'sky submarine's brig.

"Hey, don't be so rough pal!" Mickey shouted at the pirates.

"I'm not your pal." the pirate replied. "Just cool off and think about telling the Captain where that treasure is!"

"I don't know about any treasure, I swear!"

"Suit yourself." the pirate said as he slammed the cell door shut.

As their jailor walked away, Riku struggled to his feet and went forward to clasp and rattle the bars a little bit, as if he could break down the door.

"Hey come back here!" he shouted. However the pirate was gone.

* * *

In Arcadia's middle sea, three ships were approaching a small floating island known as a junction point on the planet's trade routes. One was the Little Jack. The second was a larger two mast frigate whose sails bore the emblem of an albatross and flew a blue skull flag. The third was a large steel battleship bearing the banner of the Valuan Armada, and underneath that the standard of the Valuan Royal Family. On all three ships a crew member stood on the deck with a pair of flags, signaling to the other ships and to the dock workers on shore. Eventually, with a lot of signaling and maneuvering, all three ships got into position. The Little Jack pulled up to the dock, while the two other ships sent out small boats filled with dignitaries.

A little while later in the island's tavern, six figures sat around one of the tables, just inside the entrance while four more, obviously soldiers by the way they were dressed, stood by for any trouble. Those seated around the table rose, moving toward the exit. A few minutes later those same figures could be seen in an alcove carved out of the living rock of the island, standing around another carved stone in the shape of a sad looking old man dressed in robes, one arm extended out in front of him, pointing south by southwest. Almost as one, everyone there, including the soldiers bowed with respect in that direction.

One of the figures, a young man in his twenties dressed in a short purple coat and trousers and wearing a simple gold circlet on his head began to speak. "We are gathered here today to remember those who lost their lives in the tragedy of four years ago. Whether they number among those who sacrificed their lives to bring peace and freedom or were simply the victims of a senseless and unnecessary war, we honor the memory of each and every one."

He paused just as a plump middle aged woman brought up a basket containing a couple of bottles and a number of simple clay cups. He nodded to her and she set the basket down, opened the bottles, took out the cups and began filling them, the young man taking them and passing them around to all those assembled there. Just as the woman finished, pouring one for herself and the young man was about to propose a toast, another man in the uniform of the Valuan Armada rushed into the area, shouting. "My Lord, My Lady!"

The young blonde man turned to him, as did a young woman with long black hair, wearing something very similar to a kimono. "Yes trooper?" the young man asked.

"Report from the Capital Sire!" the soldier said.

"Read it!"

"The Defense Minister sends his regards and regrets to inform you that there is yet no news on the stolen prototype Sky Submarine, but that Captain Marco expects that it may be somewhere in the Middle Sea area. Also, there have been reports of a strange new type of monster having been seen in the outlying areas of New Valua City."

"New monsters trooper?" the blonde man said, as the woman beside him gasped.

"Sorry Lord Enrique." the soldier stammered. "That's all the report says."

The other people nearby could be heard talking, asking each other the obvious questions about what kind of monsters they were and would they show up near where they lived. Neither Enrique nor the soldier had any answer for that.

* * *

Riku and Mickey's cell shuddered as the reverberations from a strong impact ran through the ship, waking both of them from a fitful sleep. Then a moment later it happened again, accompanied by the clanging of an object striking the metal hull. A moment after that a muffled yet still quite audible boom sounded as cannon were fired. Riku rubbed his eyes as he tried to focus his still dream scattered thoughts. Mickey too was a little disoriented, but both he and Riku knew from experience what the sounds and vibrations meant and therefore realized what was happening.

"Wonder who these Pirates are attacking now?" Mickey asked.

"Who cares? It's no-one we know, probably."

"Riku, I'm surprised at you! Some innocent people could get hurt!"

"I know, I know. You always say that. What can we do about it down here?"

Before Mickey could answer him, there was an especially loud clang and a bang quite nearby, along with a shaking which threw both of them along with the guards outside to the deck. Simultaneously there was a scream and a snapping of twisted and tortured metal. Mickey and Riku picked themselves up, a little more bruised and battered. The brig cell didn't fare so well, having visible cracks in the bulkhead and a slight twisting in the bars. There was also a slight smell of burnt or burning gunpowder. Outside of the cell the guards were also getting to their feet, cursing all the while.

"What's the hook-handed, peg-legged Cap'n think he's doing with this boat?" one of them complained. "Get us all killed I reckon!"

"Shut up you swab!" the other one retorted. "You want to be keelhauled?"

"You shut up!" the first shot back.

"Who says!" the second pirate shouted, his fists held out in front of him.

"I say!" the first shouted back, with a knife in his hand.

Just about then there was another bump and a clang, once again sending everyone back down to the deck. Then, once the pirates and prisoners regained their feet, another pirate burst into the passageway shouting. "The Captain orders all hands on deck, repel boarders!"

"Ah great!" the pirate with the knife said sarcastically. "What else could happen?"

The two original pirates fell back into their argument, the one with the knife wanting to stay down in the brig, the one without wanting to obey the order, with the third backing him. The knife wielder lashed out with the blade, grazing the arm of the other as he dodged and counterattacked with a fist, hitting the first pirate on the shoulder as he ducked. The third pirate tried to get them to break up the fight, shouting "Hey, hey! Stop it! There's enough fighting up on deck!" He was cut off in mid-sentence as his interference only got him punched and stabbed by the others, causing him to stagger and leaving a bleeding hole in his shoulder.

Riku and Mickey could only lean against the bars and watch while this was going on, as the age-old tendency of the violent and evil to turn on each other played out before them. (Riku was still weak from his bout with the bends, and even if he could have used his Dark Mode powers, the blast would have likely killed everyone in the area, given the cramped quarters.) They would have seen their jailors kill each other but for the sudden entrance of two other figures dressed differently than the pirates, and who took up fighting postures, one shouting a challenge as he did so.

"Hold it you pirate scum! Step apart and put your hands up, before they get cut off!"

One pirate, the one who had come down to warn the others of the boarding party shouted hoarsely "See, I told you we were being boarded, but no, you had to have your little quarrel!"

"Shut up and put them up I said!" the Armada sailor who had first addressed them shouted as he and his companion pointed their blades as the pirate who had spoken. That pirate was in no real shape to resist them, since he had to hold the bleeding wound in his shoulder with the opposite hand, and the arm on the wounded side was of little use. His companions though, once alerted to the intrusion and still full of anger and adrenalin from their argument, charged the soldiers and managed to surprise them, getting in the first hits.

However the Valuan soldiers were well trained professionals and they quickly recovered from their surprise, taking the blows in stride and each moving in a different direction to get to either side of the pirates. Then with an order from one of them, they closed in to execute a pincer style attack on the two now flustered brig guards. One, two hits, one on each of the pirates of a closed fist wrapped around the hilt of a Navel cutlass and they were knocked unconscious. The third pirate, who had not fought due to having to hold his wound, just moaned.

"What do we do with this scum Lieutenant?" one of the soldiers asked.

"Orders are to take them alive if possible Sergeant. We take them back to the Captain." The lieutenant mused for a moment then said "Well, since we're already in the brig anyway, you can just check these fellows to see if one of them has the keys and we'll stick them in a cell for now, and yes, after you've done that you can go see if you can get Bones to check over this guy here."

"Yes sir!" the Sergeant replied as he began searching the unconscious bodies.

"Hey Lieutenant!" a loud, yet slightly squeaky voice sounded from one of the cells, what about us!"

The Lieutenant looked over to see who was speaking. Since Arcadia did not have any humanoid animals of its own, he was obviously shocked to see Mickey.

"A mouse?" he asked out loud.

"Mickey Mouse, to be precise." he answered.

* * *

Author's Note: Yes, I know that this one is a little shorter. It's taken me a while to put this chapter together, and when Mickey said his last line, I knew it to be a natural chapter break.

* * *

Next time on Kingdom Hearts Trinity Sight: Fight at the Farmhouse. 


End file.
